While the concept of food addiction is highly controversial among the scientific community, lay acceptance is more widespread. Yet to date, nobody has compared the prevalence or predictors of self-perceived versus clinically diagnosed food addiction. In the present study, 303 university psychology students (89% female, age M = 19.3 SD = 1.5, BMI M = 21.7 SD = 2.7) were asked whether they thought they were addicted to any foods, and then completed the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) and other measures of eating pathology, dieting behaviour, body image, explicit and internalised weight stigma, and validation seeking personality traits. Only 6.9% of participants met the YFAS diagnostic criteria for food addiction; however, 51.5% of participants self-classified as food addicts. With the exception of explicit anti-fat bias, statistically significant differences on all measures were observed between participants classified as clinically diagnosed food addicts, self-perceived food addicts, and non-addicts. Self-perceived and clinical food addicts did not differ in the nature of substance dependence symptoms endorsed. Higher levels of dieting (59%) were reported in individuals meeting diagnostic criteria for food addiction than in self-perceived food addicts (20%) or non-addicts (11%). Although no differences in BMI were observed between those self-classifying as addicted or not, self-perceived food addiction was associated with higher scores on measures of eating pathology, body dissatisfaction, weight concerns, dieting behaviour and internalised weight stigma than in non-addicted participants. Self-perceived food addiction represents a significant and distinct population of subclinical eating pathology and may be a useful target for interventions aimed at reducing maladaptive eating behaviours.