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Food preferences and YFAS/YFAS-C scores in schoolchildren and university students

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Abstracts

Purpose

Food addiction (FA) is one of the causes of widespread obesity in modern society. It was shown that there is an age-associated increase in incidence rate of FA in adolescents/young adults. The purpose of this study was to analyze food preferences in schoolchildren and university students with FA.

Methods

High school and university students (N = 1607; age: 17.8 ± 2.7 years; girls: 77.0%) located in four settlements of Russia anonymously took part in the study. Study participants provided personal data (age, sex, height, and weight) and completed the Yale Food Addiction Scale, the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale and the Munich ChronoType Questionnaire. In addition, they indicated food products with which they had problems.

Results

The frequency of detection of FA among university students was twice as high as among schoolchildren. University students with FA were 20.2% more likely than schoolchildren to report the symptom ‘use continues despite knowledge of adverse consequences,’ and 13.7% more likely to report the symptom ‘tolerance.’ Schoolchildren and university students with FA most often noted that foods high in sugar and fat were problematic. University students with FA also reported that foods with a high carbohydrate content were problematic.

Conclusion

In university students with FA, in comparison with schoolchildren with FA, there is an increase in list of problematic food products, mainly due to products with a high carbohydrate content.

Level of evidence

Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study.

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Acknowledgements

The YFAS scale and scoring instruction were kindly provided by Dr. Ashley Gearhardt.

Funding

No grant was obtained for this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Immunology and Biotechnology, Institute of Physiology of Komi Science Centre of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Syktyvkar, Russia

    Mikhail F. Borisenkov, Tatyana A. Tserne, Sergey V. Popov & Larisa A. Bakutova

  2. Ural Institute of Humanities, Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, Russia

    Anna A. Pecherkina, Olga I. Dorogina & Elvira E. Symaniuk

  3. Institute of Biology and Biotechnology, Vyatka State University, Kirov, Russia

    Ekaterina A. Martinson

  4. Institute of Pedagogy and Psychology, Pitirim Sorokin Syktyvkar State University, Syktyvkar, Russia

    Valentina I. Vetosheva

  5. Department of Biology, Tyumen Medical University, Tyumen, Russia

    Denis G. Gubin, Svetlana V. Solovieva & Elena F. Turovinina

  6. Tyumen Cardiology Research Centre, Tomsk National Research Medical Center, Russian Academy of Science, Tyumen, Russia

    Denis G. Gubin

Authors
  1. Mikhail F. Borisenkov
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  2. Tatyana A. Tserne
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  8. Valentina I. Vetosheva
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mikhail F. Borisenkov.

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This study was approved by the ethics committee of the Institute of Physiology of Komi Science Center, Ural Branch of RAS, and was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the Helsinki declaration.

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Informed consent was obtained from all participants and parents of minors included in the study.

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Borisenkov, M.F., Tserne, T.A., Popov, S.V. et al. Food preferences and YFAS/YFAS-C scores in schoolchildren and university students. Eat Weight Disord 26, 2333–2343 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-020-01064-6

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