ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Addictive Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1642630
This article is part of the Research TopicUltra-Processed Food Addiction: Moving toward Consensus on Mechanisms, Definitions, Assessment, and InterventionView all 10 articles
Ultra-processed food addiction symptoms profile according to weight status among Brazilian adults
Provisionally accepted- 1Laboratório de Nutrição e Metabolismo (LANUM), Faculdade de Nutrição, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Maceió, Brazil
- 2Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
- 3Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Maceió, Brazil
- 4University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States
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The study aimed to investigate several ultra-processed food (UPF) addiction symptoms according to the weight status and to verify if there are specific symptoms of UPF addiction that differ according to the weight status in adults with a UPF addiction diagnosis. Methods: This is a crosssectional study that included adults (18-59 years) of both sexes with UPF addiction diagnosis.Demographic and clinical data were collected, such as body mass index (BMI), diagnosis of depression, and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). UPF addiction was assessed using the modified Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0. Results: In total, 1,074 participants were included. Of this total, 83.3% (n = 895) were female, with a mean age of 23 ± 5 years, of which 36.8% (n = 395) were classified with normal weight, 31.9% (n = 343) with overweight, 19.5% (n = 209) with obesity I, 8.1% (n = 87) with obesity II, and 3.7% (n = 40) with obesity III. The prevalence of UPF addiction symptoms referring to social/interpersonal harm, cut down/quit, role interference, and physical/psychological harm increased progressively with increasing BMI, even after adjusting for age, sex, diagnosis of depression, and GAD. Conclusion: This study showed a progressive increase in UPF addiction symptom severity with rising BMI levels. Moreover, distinct UPF addiction symptom profiles emerged across various BMI categories. Understanding these nuances can guide the development of targeted interventions and treatment strategies to address this multifaceted behavioral profile effectively. Further research across different populations is imperative to broaden our comprehension of UPF addiction's impact and expression.
Keywords: Eating addiction, behavioral profile, weight status, Obesity, food addiction
Received: 06 Jun 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Silva Júnior, Macena, Tenório, Soares, Gama, Lopes, Silva, Gearhardt and Bueno. 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: André Eduardo Silva Júnior, Laboratório de Nutrição e Metabolismo (LANUM), Faculdade de Nutrição, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Maceió, Brazil
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