Study of Depression and Anxiety in Egyptian Adolescents in Relation to Food Addiction

Abstract

Food addiction is a clinical phenomenon distinct from other forms of disordered eating; the concept is new and complex, but proven to be very important for understanding and solving the problem of obesity. It refers to impaired control over eating behavior andpsychological changes as in a case of chemical substance abuse (strong cravings, extreme difficulty in abstaining) that cause symptomatic presentation and may lead to clinical impairment. If highly processed foods also have addictive potential, children may be more susceptible to this effect than adults due to neural and psychological vulnerabilities. Food addiction diagnoses are positively associated with BMI and, therefore, it increased in obese individuals (blunted dopaminergic response, genetic predisposition). Moreover, this relationship between body mass and food addiction may be non-linear as normal or overweight individuals can also be classified as food addicted. Based on its association with obesity, “food addiction” is presumably more prevalent among subjects with low socio-economic status as lacking of healthy beneficial food andexercises, negligence of parents and their preoccupation with work and lack ofcultural awareness about the harms of obesity.