Abstract
This study aimed to investigate food addiction (FA) and binge-eating disorder (BED) in their association to executive dysfunctions in adults with obesity. Data on response inhibition, attention, decision-making, and impulsivity were derived from four groups of adults with obesity: obesity and FA (n = 23), obesity and BED (n = 19), obesity and FA plus BED (FA/BED, n = 23), and a body mass index-, age-, and sex-stratified control group of otherwise healthy individuals with obesity (n = 23, OB), using established computerized neuropsychological tasks. Overall, there were few group differences in neuropsychological profiles. Individuals of the FA group did not differ from the OB group regarding executive functioning. Individuals with BED presented with significantly higher variability in their reaction times and a deficient processing of feedback for performance improvement compared to individuals of the OB group. Strikingly, individuals with FA/BED did not present neuropsychological impairments, but higher levels of depression than all other groups. The results indicated the presence of a BED-specific neuropsychological profile in the obesity spectrum. The additional trait FA was not related to altered executive functioning compared to the OB or BED groups. Future research is needed to discriminate FA and BED further using food-specific tasks.
Highlights
Obesity, defined as an excessive accumulation of body fat (body mass index (BMI) ≥30.0 kg/m 2 ) [1], presents one of the most prevalent health conditions in the Western world [2].During the last decade, research on the causal and maintaining factors of obesity has focused on executive functioning and neural characteristics [3,4,5]
The food addiction (FA)/binge-eating disorder (BED) group showed significantly more depressive symptoms compared to the OB group (5.17, 95% Confidence interval (CI) (1.86, 8.49), p ≤ 0.001)
The present study aimed at investigating the associations of trait FA and the DSM-5 diagnosis of BED regarding executive functions in adults with obesity
Summary
Obesity, defined as an excessive accumulation of body fat (body mass index (BMI) ≥30.0 kg/m 2 ) [1], presents one of the most prevalent health conditions in the Western world [2].During the last decade, research on the causal and maintaining factors of obesity has focused on executive functioning and neural characteristics [3,4,5]. In order to provide targeted treatment options for executive dysfunctions, the specification of neuropsychological profiles in the obesity spectrum is warranted [10] In this context, a recent review showed substantial similarities between executive functions in obesity and substance use disorder, including increased impulsive decision-making and an attentional bias towards disorder-related stimuli in both conditions [11]. A recent review showed substantial similarities between executive functions in obesity and substance use disorder, including increased impulsive decision-making and an attentional bias towards disorder-related stimuli in both conditions [11] In addition to these neuropsychological abnormalities, several neuroimaging studies documented a considerable overlap between obesity and substance use disorder regarding functional alterations in frontal brain regions and meso-corticolimbic circuits, which are involved in reward processing and decision-making [11,12,13]
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