ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition, Psychology and Brain Health
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1664724
This article is part of the Research TopicWearable Health Technologies: New Frontiers in Eating and Weight-Related ProblemsView all articles
WHAT'S IN YOUR CARD? : THE IMPACT OF ONLINE FOOD DELIVERY APPS ON DEPRESSION AND EATING BEHAVIOURS
Provisionally accepted
- Istanbul Bilgi University, Istanbul, Türkiye
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Digitalisation, through smartphones and online platforms, has become deeply embedded in daily life, beginning to exert significant effects on eating habits and psychological health. Online food delivery (OFD) applications (app) provide easy access to fast food and processed products, exposing individuals to a constant digital food environment. Examining the relationship of these applications with eating behaviours and conditions such as depression is particularly important in the context of increasing mental health problems among young adults. This study aims to examine the relationship between the frequency of use of OFD apps and user attitudes towards these apps, with depression level and eating behaviors in young adults. Participants' demographic information, frequency of use of OFD apps, and attitudes towards these apps were determined by questionnaire questions; depression status was assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory; and eating behaviors were assessed using the Three-Factor Eating Scale (TFEQ-R21). A total of 383 young adults aged 18-35 years participated in our study. The group with the lowest frequency of OFD apps use (21.2±0.4) had significantly lower uncontrolled eating scores than the other groups (23.4±0.7 and 23.3±0.6) (p=0.005). In addition, a significant decrease in cognitive restraint levels was observed as the frequency of OFD apps use increased (p=0.031). In addition, depression scores of individuals with more OFD apps (4-6) on their phones (14.1±1.3) were found to be higher than those of individuals who did not use any apps (8.8±1.4) (p=0.025). The findings of our study suggest that the digital food environment can be a determinant not only of individuals' physical health but also of their psychological health and behavioral eating habits.
Keywords: Depression, digital eating habits, eating behavior, online food delivery application, young adults
Received: 12 Jul 2025; Accepted: 06 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 OZLU KARAHAN, Cakmakci, Kurtoglu, Kul, Kidan and Kenger. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Emre Batuhan Kenger, emrebatuhan.kenger@gmail.com
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