Food Addiction in Gambling Disorder: Frequency and Clinical Outcomes.

Susana Jiménez-Murcia,Ines Wolz,Roser Granero,Zaida Agüera,Ashley N Gearhardt,Fernando Fernández-Aranda,Carlos Diéguez,Gemma Mestre-Bach,Anders Hakansson,José M Menchón,Felipe F Casanueva,Marta Baño,Trevor Steward,Anke Hinney

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00473

Abstract

Background: The food addiction (FA) model is receiving increasing interest from the scientific community. Available empirical evidence suggests that this condition may play an important role in the development and course of physical and mental health conditions such as obesity, eating disorders, and other addictive behaviors. However, no epidemiological data exist on the comorbidity of FA and gambling disorder (GD), or on the phenotype for the co-occurrence of GD+FA.Objectives: To determine the frequency of the comorbid condition GD+FA, to assess whether this comorbidity features a unique clinical profile compared to GD without FA, and to generate predictive models for the presence of FA in a GD sample.Method: Data correspond to N = 458 treatment-seeking patients who met criteria for GD in a hospital unit specialized in behavioral addictions.Results: Point prevalence for FA diagnosis was 9.2%. A higher ratio of FA was found in women (30.5%) compared to men (6.0%). Lower FA prevalence was associated with older age. Patients with high FA scores were characterized by worse psychological state, and the risk of a FA diagnosis was increased in patients with high scores in the personality traits harm avoidance and self-transcendence, and low scores in cooperativeness (R2 = 0.18).Conclusion: The co-occurrence of FA in treatment-seeking GD patients is related to poorer emotional and psychological states. GD treatment interventions and related behavioral addictions should consider potential associations with problematic eating behavior and aim to include techniques that aid patients in better managing this behavior.

Highlights

Food AddictionThe applicability of the criteria for substance dependence disorders in the Fourth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Álvarez-Moya et al, 2010) to behavioral addictions, including overeating, was greatly disputed (Moreno and Tandon, 2011)
In congruence with the results of the present study and the findings described above, Bégin et al (2012) found that in three groups of women, two of them with overweight/obesity and a third group with SUD, the groups with overweight/obesity + food addiction (FA), and SUD were more similar, in terms of personality traits, when compared to the third group with overweight/obesity, but without FA
In addition to the direct associations described above, our analysis has shown a relationship between these variables and emotional distress

Summary

Introduction

The applicability of the criteria for substance dependence disorders in the Fourth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Álvarez-Moya et al, 2010) to behavioral addictions, including overeating, was greatly disputed (Moreno and Tandon, 2011). Scientific research on food addiction (FA) is still in its nascent stages and currently, no consensus exists regarding a precise operational definition of FA, this term is commonly used in areas such as obesity, eating disorders, and behavioral addictions. As the term behavioral addiction implies a continued, persistent, excessive, impulsive, and uncontrollable involvement in an activity despite the negative consequences, definitions for FA should include the combination of both, “substance-related” and “behavioral addiction” concepts. No epidemiological data exist on the comorbidity of FA and gambling disorder (GD), or on the phenotype for the co-occurrence of GD+FA

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion