Food addiction and psychiatric comorbidities: a review of current evidence

Piccini et al. (2021) conducted this review to explain the complex symptomatology of food addiction and assess its relationship with mood disorders, anxiety disorders, eating disorders and substance-related and addictive disorders. This systematic review identified similarities between patients with food addiction and those with substance use disorders such as risk factors, neurobiological and hormonal correlates, personality traits and symptom profiles. Another finding was the directly proportional relationship that existed between food addiction with the burden of affective disorder symptoms. Additionally, suffering from both FA and other eating disorders are associated with worse clinical conditions and symptoms. It was concluded that FA should be considered a sort of transnosological construct existing in different psychopathological domains that have similarities with substance-related, affective, and eating disorders. There appears to be links between food addiction and several psychopathological dimensions, which require further research and understanding. [NPID: sugar, processed food, food addiction, mood disorders, anxiety, addiction, personality, affective disorder symptoms]

Year: 2021

Reference: Piccinni, A., Bucchi, R., Fini, C., Vanelli, F., Mauri, M., Stallone, T., Cavallo, E. D., & Claudio, C. (2021). Food addiction and psychiatric comorbidities: a review of current evidence. Eating and weight disorders : EWD, 26(4), 1049–1056. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-020-01021-3