Abstract
Purpose
While stroke is already considered a nutrition-related disease, the prevalence of the broad array of disordered eating behaviors is under-reported in this disease. We describe the case of a stroke in a young woman following a recent food addiction to fatty-sweet food.
Methods
She was diagnosed with a Night-Eating-Syndrome, with a loss-of-control exclusively towards sugary carbohydrates used to manage her insomnia and distress, and her consummatory behaviors were investigated.
Results
This case report illustrates a self-medication of a significant psychological distress by shifting from a healthy diet to an overconsumption of hyper-palatable foods, triggering an addiction disorder. The related hypertriglyceridemia, on top of chronic smoking, contributed to the development of an atherosclerotic plaque and thrombus formation.
Conclusion
Food addiction might be considered as an emerging stroke risk factor. We suggest it fosters the need to take into consideration addictive-like eating behaviors and associated mental disorders in the primary and secondary prevention of stroke. This may be particularly relevant for the prevention of stroke in women as they are more prone to comfort their emotions with food.
Level of evidence
V, descriptive study.
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Notes
We searched PubMed from MEDLINE for original articles for the following indication terms: (eating disorders OR food addiction OR emotional eating OR stress-induced eating OR food craving) AND (stroke OR cerebral stroke). Thirty-three papers came out but were related to post-stroke eating disturbances (feeding and swallowing) and/or nutritional support.
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Funding
Yolaine Rabat is a Ph.D. fellow funded by the French Ministry of Research and Higher Education. This funder had no role in collection, analysis, interpretation of the data, writing the manuscript or the decision to submit it for publication.
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Rabat, Y., Berthoz, S. & Sibon, I. Is addictive-like eating an overlooked stroke risk factor? A study case. Eat Weight Disord 26, 2801–2806 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-021-01115-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-021-01115-6