Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The relationship of hedonic hunger with food addiction and obesity in university students

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the relationship of hedonic hunger with food addiction and obesity in university students.

Methods

The research sample consists of 275 university students between the ages of 19–28 years. Body weight (kg), height (cm), waist and hip circumference (cm) were measured by applying a face-to-face questionnaire including descriptive characteristics of individuals, the Power of Food Scale (PFS), the Palatable Eating Motive Scale (PEMS) and the Modified Yale Food Addiction Scale (mYFAS) 2.0. Statistical analysis of the data was done with SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) 18.

Results

In individuals, according to the mean PFS score the presence of food power-induced hedonic hunger was detected. While according to the mean PEMS score no motivational hedonic hunger was detected. According to the BMI classification the average scores of PFS (p = 0.002), PEMS (p = 0.009), and mYFAS 2.0 (p < 0.001) showed a gradual increase from underweight to obese. A weak positive correlation was found between BMI and PFS score (r = 0.238; p < 0.05) and PEMS score (r = 0.196; p < 0.05), respectively. The moderate positive correlation (r = 0.439 p < 0.001) was found between mYFAS 2.0 and the PEMS scores.

Conclusion

As a result, the presence of food-based hedonic hunger was determined in young individuals. A relationship was determined between food addiction and hedonic hunger caused by the motivation to consume delicious foods. Accordingly, hedonic hunger is related to food addiction and obesity in university students.

Level of evidence

V, cross-sectional descriptive study.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

References

  1. Luquet S, Magnan C (2009) The central nervous system at the core of the regulation of energy homeostasis. Front Biosci 1(1):448–465. https://doi.org/10.2741/s37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Lowe MR, Butryn ML (2007) Hedonic hunger: a new dimension of appetite? Physiol Behav 91(4):432–439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2007.04.006

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Lowe MR, Arigo D, Butryn ML, Gilbert JR, Sarwer D, Stice E (2016) Hedonic hunger prospectively predicts onset and maintenance of loss of control eating among college women. Health Psychol 35(3):238. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000291

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Berthoud HR (2011) Metabolic and hedonic drives in the neural control of appetite: who is the boss? Curr Opin Neurobiol 21(6):888–896. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2011.09.004

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Hebebrand J, Albayrak Ö, Adan R, Antel J, Dieguez C, de Jong J, Van der Plasse G et al (2014) “Eating addiction”, rather than “food addiction”, better captures addictive-like eating behavior. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 47:295–306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.08.016

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Giuffrida A, Beltramo M, Piomelli D (2001) Mechanisms of endocannabinoid inactivation: biochemistry and pharmacology. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 298(1):7–14 (PMID: 11408519)

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Ely AV, Howard J, Lowe MR (2015) Delayed discounting and hedonic hunger in the prediction of lab-based eating behavior. Eat Behav 19:72–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2015.06.015

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Witt AA, Lowe MR (2014) Hedonic hunger and binge eating among women with eating disorders. Int J Eat Disord 47(3):273–280. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22171

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Schulte EM, Potenza MN, Gearhardt AN (2017) A commentary on the “eating addiction” versus “food addiction” perspectives on addictive-like food consumption. Appetite 115:9–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2016.10.033

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Blumenthal DM, Gold MS (2010) Neurobiology of food addiction. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care 13(4):359–365. https://doi.org/10.1097/MCO.0b013e32833ad4d4

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Heyward VH, Wagner DR (2004) Applied body composition assessment. Human Kinetics New Mexico, Albuquerque (ISBN 13: 9780736046305)

    Google Scholar 

  12. World Health Organization (2000) Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic, WHO Technical Report Series 894. Genava

  13. Gearhardt AN, Corbin WR, Brownell KD (2009) Preliminary validation of the Yale Food Addiction Scale. Appetite 52(2):430–436. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2008.12.003

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Tok Ş (2018) The validity and reliability study of the adaptation of modified Yale Food Addiction Scale version 2.0 to Turkish. Master Thesis, Sakarya University

  15. Cappelleri JC, Bushmakin AG, Gerber RA et al (2009) Evaluating the Power of Food Scale in obese subjects and a general sample of individuals: development and measurement properties. Int J Obes 33(8):913–922. https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2009.107

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Akçil-Ok M, Hayzaran M (2020) Validation of the Turkish version Power of the Food scale (PFS) for determining hedonic hunger status and correlate between PFS and body mass index. Mal J Nutr 26(3):369–377. https://doi.org/10.31246/mjn-2019-0129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Burgess EE, Turan B, Lokken KL et al (2014) Profiling motives behind hedonic eating, preliminary validation of the Palatable Eating Motives Scale. Appetite 72:66–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2013.09.016

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Hayzaran M (2018) Determation of the university students hedonic hunger status with different scales, Master Thesis, Başkent University

  19. Everitt BS, Dunn G (2001) Applied multivariate data analysis, vol 2. Arnold, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  20. Yılmaz CS, Saka M (2019) Determination of adult professional male soccer player’s hedonic hunger and nutritional status. J Nutr Diet 47(2):40–49. https://doi.org/10.33076/2019.BDD.1031

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Yoshikawa T, Orita K, Watanabe Y, Tanaka M (2012) Validation of the Japanese version of The Power of Food Scale in a young adult population. Psychol Rep 111(1):253–265. https://doi.org/10.2466/08.02.06.15.PR0.111.4.253-265

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Aliasghari F, Jafarabadi MA, Yaghin NL, Mahdavi R (2020) Psychometric properties of Power of Food Scale in Iranian adult population: gender-related differences in hedonic hunger. Eat Weight Disord 25(1):185–193. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-018-0549-3

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Cornier MA, Salzberg AK, Endly DC, Bessesen DH, Tregellas JR (2010) Sex-based differences in the behavioral and neuronal responses to food. Physiol Behav 99(4):538–543. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2010.01.008

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Novelle MG, Diéguez C (2019) Updating gender differences in the control of homeostatic and hedonic food intake: implications for binge eating disorder. Mol Cell Endocrinol 497:110508. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mce.2019.110508

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Killgore WD, Yurgelun-Todd DA (2010) Sex differences in cerebral responses to images of high vs low calorie food. NeuroReport 21(5):354. https://doi.org/10.1097/WNR.0b013e32833774f7

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  26. Ribeiro G, Camacho M, Santos O, Pontes C, Torres S, Oliveira-Maia AJ (2018) Association between hedonic hunger and body-mass index versus obesity status. Sci Rep 8(1):1–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-23988-x

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Mediouni M, Kaczor-Urbanowicz KE, Madiouni R (2020) Future epidemic: depreobesity. Obes Med 19:100240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obmed.2020.100240

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Patsalos O, Keeler J, Schmidt U, Penninx BW, Young AH, Himmerich H (2021) Diet, obesity, and depression: a systematic review. J Personal Med 11(3):176. https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm11030176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Mason TB, Dunton GF, Gearhardt AN, Leventhal AM (2020) Emotional disorder symptoms, anhedonia, and negative urgency as predictors of hedonic hunger in adolescents. Eat Behav 36:101343. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2019.101343

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Davis C, Loxton NJ (2014) A psycho-genetic study of hedonic responsiveness in relation to “food addiction.” Nutrients 6(10):4338–4353. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu6104338

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  31. Ouellette AS, Rodrigue C, Lemieux S, Tchernof A, Biertho L, Bégin C (2018) Establishing a food addiction diagnosis using the Yale Food Addiction Scale: a closer look at the clinically significant distress/functional impairment criterion. Appetite 129:55–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2018.06.031

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Marks DF (2016) Dyshomeostasis, obesity, addiction and chronic stress. Health Psychol Open 3(1):2055102916636907. https://doi.org/10.1177/2055102916636907

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  33. Harrold JA, Dovey TM, Blundell JE, Halford JC (2012) CNS regulation of appetite. Neuropharmacology 63(1):3–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2012.01.007

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Hızlı H (2018) Effects of high fat diet on hormones and neuropeptides related hunger and satiety metabolism. J Health Sci 27(3):239–344

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This research did not receive any specific Grants from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, North Cyprus via Mersin 10, Turkey

    Fulya Taş & Ceren Gezer

Authors
  1. Fulya Taş
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ceren Gezer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection were performed by [FT] Analysis and interpretation were performed by [FT, CG]. The manuscript was written by [FT, CG] and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fulya Taş.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest in connection with this article.

Ethics approval

The study was approved by the Ethical Board of Scientific Research and Publication of Eastern Mediterranean University, dated 24.09.2019–01.07.2020 and numbered 2019/21-02, 2020/06.

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all the participants.

Consent to publish

Consent to publish has been received from all participants with informed consent.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Taş, F., Gezer, C. The relationship of hedonic hunger with food addiction and obesity in university students. Eat Weight Disord 27, 2835–2843 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-022-01436-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-022-01436-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation