Food addiction behavior in patients with newly-diagnosed type 2 diabetes

Pilar Lavielle, Unidad de Investigación en Epidemiología Clínica, Hospital de Especialidades, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Ciudad de México, Mexico
Rita A. Gómez-Díaz, Unidad de Investigación en Epidemiología Clínica, Hospital de Especialidades, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Ciudad de México, Mexico
A. Leticia Valdez, Unidad de Investigación en Epidemiología Clínica, Hospital de Especialidades, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Ciudad de México, Mexico
Niels H. Wacher, Unidad de Investigación en Epidemiología Clínica, Hospital de Especialidades, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Ciudad de México, Mexico

Background: The concept of food addiction describes the difficulties of some individuals with regard to food consumption. Objective: To determine the frequency of food addiction and its association with body mass index (BMI), calorie consumption and therapeutic control in patients with newly-diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Material and methods: A total of 1,080 patients with T2DM were included. The degree of metabolic control was determined with the levels of glycated hemoglobin, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and blood pressure. Daily caloric consumption was estimated with a semi-quantitative questionnaire of food consumption frequency. Results: Nearly all patients showed overweight (40.5 %) and obesity (49.1 %). The frequency of food addiction was 54.2 % (56.9 % in women and 48.9 % in men). Food addiction was associated with BMI (OR = 1.89, p ≤ 0.05), high caloric intake (OR = 1.14, p ≤ 0.05) and glycated hemoglobin > 7 % (OR = 1.43, p ≤ 0.05) Conclusions: Food addiction is common in patients with overweight/obesity and newly-diagnosed T2DM, and is associated with higher-than-recommended caloric consumption, obesity degree and poor metabolic control.

Keywords: Food addiction. Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Body mass index. Obesity.