Abstract
The obesity epidemic has led to the exploration of factors contributing to its etiology. Addictive eating, physical activity, and sleep behaviors have all been independently associated with obesity, and recent research suggests plausible interrelationships between food addiction, physical activity, and sleep. This study aims to investigate the relationship between food addiction with physical activity and sleep behavior. Australian adults were invited to complete an online survey which collected information including: demographics, food addiction symptoms, physical activity, sitting time and sleep behavior items. The sample comprised 1344 individuals with a mean age of 39.8 ± 13.1 years (range 18–91), of which 75.7% were female. Twenty-two percent of the sample met the criteria for a diagnosis of food addiction as per the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS 2.0) criteria, consisting of 0.7% with a “mild” addiction, 2.6% “moderate”, and 18.9% classified as having a “severe” food addiction. Food-addicted individuals had significantly less physical activity (1.8 less occasions walking/week, 32 min less walking/week, 58 min less moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA)/week; p < 0.05), reported sitting for longer on weekends (83 min more on weekends/week; p < 0.001), and reported significantly more symptoms of poorer-quality sleep (more likely to snore, more likely to have fallen asleep while driving, reported more days of daytime falling asleep; p < 0.05) compared to non-food-addicted individuals. These differences were also observed in those with a “severe” food addiction classification. The present study suggests frequency and duration of physical activity, time spent sitting and sleep duration are associated with food addiction.
Highlights
Obesity is one of the most significant global public health issues of the 21st century [1]
Individuals classified as food-addicted as defined by Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) 2.0 [18] were found to spend less time engaged in physical activity and more time sitting on weekends when compared to non-food-addicted individuals
The magnitude of differences between groups in frequency of vigorous physical activity was small. These findings do have to be interpreted with caution as self-reported measures of physical activity have been found to overestimate moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) in adults compared to objective measures such as accelerometers [62], and there is recent evidence suggesting that the accuracy of self-reported physical activity varies with weight status, with obese individuals most likely to over report time spent exercising compared to normal weight individuals [62,63,64]
Summary
Obesity is one of the most significant global public health issues of the 21st century [1]. Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that as of 2014, 39% (over 1.9 billion) of the world’s adult population was overweight and 13% (600 million) were obese [2]. A systematic review found that from 1980 to 2013, the global prevalence of overweight and obesity increased 27.5% for adults and. The prevalence of obesity and the health and socioeconomic burdens that accompany it [3,4] have prompted extensive research into its possible causes. Nutrients 2018, 10, 1428 risk-factor for obesity [5,6]; there are a multitude of modifiable risk factors involved. While physical activity is a modifiable aspect of energy expenditure [7]
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