Differential association between food craving, food addiction and eating-related characteristics in persons at risk for eating disorders

Abstract

IntroductionFood craving is a key feature of eating disorders, but its association with medical and psychological outcome might depend on the type of eating disorder. ObjectivesThis study investigated the factors associated with food craving in individuals at risk for DSM-5 eating disorder. MethodSeventy-six women were recruited from a non-clinical population (n=372) based on their positive screening (EDDS, QEWP-R) for binge eating disorder (BED; n=29), anorexia nervosa (AN; n=28) or bulimia nervosa (BN; n=19). They completed self-administered questionnaires assessing food craving (FCQ- T-r), Body Mass Index (BMI), eating behaviour (DEBQ), food addiction (YFAS 2.0), and anxiety and depressive symptoms (HADS). ResultsIndividuals at risk for BED or BN had higher food craving than those at risk for AN. Food craving was associated with BMI only in the BED group. Food craving was positively correlated with external eating in all groups, and with emotional eating in the AN and BED groups and correlated with anxiety only in BN. Food addiction prevalence was higher in the BN group than in the AN or BED groups (respectively 94.7%, 46.4% and 65.5%; p<0.01). In this non-clinical population, we demonstrated that food craving was differentially associated with BMI and eating-related characteristics according to the type of eating disorder. ConclusionThis suggests that food craving is a transdiagnostic dimension that should be differentially targeted depending on the type of eating disorder; future studies should test this hypothesis in clinical populations.