Food Disgust Scale: Spanish Version.

Leonor García-Gómez,Christina Hartmann,César Romero-Rebollar,Ruth Gutierrez-Aguilar,Gustavo Pacheco-Lopez,Guillaume Ferreira,Salvador Villalpando,Michael Siegrist

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00165

Abstract

IntroductionThe Food Disgust Scale (FDS) was recently developed and validated in Swiss adult population. This study aims to: (1) validate the FDS for the first time in a Spanish-speaking Mexican population, (2) correlate food disgust sensitivity with picky eating measures, and (3) explore the association between food disgust sensitivity and body mass index (BMI).Materials and MethodsA Spanish version of the FDS (FDS-Sp) and its short version (FDS-Sp short) were tested with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in order to test the original item/factor structure. Bivariate correlations were performed to determine the association between FDS-Sp/FDS-Sp short scores and picky eating. Lastly, hierarchical linear regression analysis was carried out to determine the relationship between food disgust sensitivity and BMI.ResultsThe factor structure of the FDS was replicated and acceptable internal consistency values were observed for FDS-Sp subscales (α varied between 0.781 and 0.955). Moreover, FDS-Sp subscales and FDS-Sp short were correlated with picky eating. Higher score in VEGI subscale of the FDS-Sp was a significant predictor for higher BMI, explaining 4% of the variance.ConclusionFDS-Sp is a useful, reliable and robust psychometric instrument to measure the sensitivity to unpleasant food situations in a Mexican adult Spanish-speaking population. A relationship between food disgust sensitivity and picky eating, selective eating behaviors and neophobia in Mexicans was confirmed. BMI is multifactorial and only one subscale of FDS-Sp is a significant predictor for BMI status. These results are helpful to continue exploring food disgust in diverse populations.

Highlights

The Food Disgust Scale (FDS) was recently developed and validated in Swiss adult population
The items are divided into eight subscales: (1) animal meat (MEAT) – situations associated with raw meat or certain parts of animals, (2) poor hygiene (HYG) – poor hygienic conditions in the preparation of food or eating, (3) human contamination (HUCON) – shared use of cutlery or other people’s contact with utensils and food, (4) mold (MOLD) – mold that has been removed from food, (5) decaying fruit (FRUIT) – fruits that are overripe and change their color or texture, (6) fish (FISH) – texture and smell of fish, (7) decaying vegetables (VEGI) – vegetables that are overripe and change their color or texture, and (8) living contaminants (LCON) – exposure of food to worms
Data exploration identified that some body mass index (BMI) values were extreme, which could indicate error in the size/weight report, or some pathological condition that would place them with extreme obesity or low weight

Summary

Introduction

The Food Disgust Scale (FDS) was recently developed and validated in Swiss adult population. This study aims to: (1) validate the FDS for the first time in a Spanish-speaking Mexican population, (2) correlate food disgust sensitivity with picky eating measures, and (3) explore the association between food disgust sensitivity and body mass index (BMI). Predation and food intake tend to follow stable patterns, since exposure to new unfamiliar food sources represents a potential health threat. This leads individuals to reject unfamiliar and new foods to an innate food neophobia as an adaptive survival mechanism (Brown et al, 2013). Food neophobia decreases from childhood to adolescence (Dovey et al, 2008)

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