Food addiction and its association with sedentary lifestyle in university students: a national cross sectional study

Obesity is considered a chronic non-communicable disease, characterized by excessive accumulation of body fat at levels harmful to health. The sedentary lifestyle marked by the absence of physical exercise is considered one of the risk factors for its development. In addition, there is an increase in the consumption of foods with addictive potential, which may favor the emergenceof food addiction. Physical exercise seems to reduce the desire for several substances with addictive potential, such as tobacco, alcohol and opioids, and can also be used in the treatment of these addictions. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine whether there is an association between the prevalence of food addiction and sedentary lifestyle in Brazilian university students. This is a cross-sectional study of national scope, carried out through online questionnaires. Data were self-reported, including age, sex, economic class, diagnosis of anxiety disorder, modified Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 (mYFAS 2.0) and physical exercise. A total of 5,946 participants were included, with a mean age of 24.1 ± 6.3 years, of which 4,371 (73.5%) were female and had a mean BMI of 24.4 ± 5.2 kg/m2. The prevalence of food addiction was 18.5%. An association was observed between food addiction and sedentary lifestyle (PR: 1.42; 95%CI [1.28 — 1.58]), even after adjustment (PR: 1.23; 95%CI [1.11 — 1.35]). In conclusion, individuals who reported not exercising were more likely to be diagnosed with food addiction.