Assessment of appetitive traits among Iraqi population

Background: Appetitive traits (ATs) are the possession of an overweight-promoting group of stable tendencies towards food including responsiveness to food stimuli, hunger, and satiety responsiveness which are associated with overeating and weight gain.Objectives: To assess ATs profile of a sample of the Iraqi population.Methods: A cross-sectional study used a self-administered, web-survey of the Adult Eating Behavior Questionnaire between the 1st and the March 30, 2023.Results: 1112 subjects participated in this study.Among the measured ATs, the highest median score was for enjoyment of food (22, interquartile range [IQR]: 5), while the lowest was for food fussiness (11, IQR: 4) and slow eating (11, IQR: 6).Two distinct clusters were identified: the food gourmets cluster, which tended to have higher mean scores in food approach traits, and the fuzzy eaters cluster, which had higher mean scores in food avoidance traits.Statistically significant differences in demographic characteristics were found between the two clusters, with the food gourmets cluster tending to have a higher body mass index (BMI), being younger in age, and consuming more frequent meals per day.Conclusions: This study found two clusters with different ATs in a sample of Iraqi population: fuzzy eaters cluster and food gourmets cluster.Strong associations between the identified clusters and demographic variables (age, BMI, gender, and meals per day) were found.