Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26633647›Full record

SynthesisObesity facts2015

A Systematic Review of the Application And Correlates of YFAS-Diagnosed 'Food Addiction' in Humans: Are Eating-Related 'Addictions' a Cause for Concern or Empty Concepts?

Cecilia G Long, John E Blundell, Graham Finlayson

Erratum issuedAbstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Obesity facts, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 52 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
52citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

52 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. A meta-analysis assessing reliability of the Yale Food Addiction Scale: Implications for compulsive eating and obesity.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025
    Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Prevalence of food addiction in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2021
    Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Pooled it
  6. Food addiction and bariatric surgery: a systematic review of the literature.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2017
    Pooled it
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Observational
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Observational
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Cecilia G LongSchool of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
John E Blundell
Graham Finlayson

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The proposition of so-called 'food addiction' (FA) in the scientific literature has stimulated a recent surge in research and debate. The concept of FA is controversial, and opinion is divided. Many of the findings depend upon the use of a single instrument called the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS). This review systematically examined FA, as defined by the YFAS, reported in 40 experimental human studies published in or after 2009. The results indicated that much of the literature makes the supposition that food addiction is an accepted neurobiological disease, consistent with substance use disorders; an interpretation based on very limited data. This raises the question as to whether those individuals who meet the YFAS criteria for diagnosis are truly 'addicted' to food or if they experience significant impairment to their psychological wellbeing and quality of life as would be expected in clinically recognised addictive disorders. At the present time, little research has investigated the extent to which a psychometric self-assessment of FA symptomatology can elucidate a harmful relationship with target foods in the diet. A positive YFAS diagnosis is usually positively associated with BMI and strongly linked with the presence of binge eating, but certain exceptions within the literature were revealed. Further clarification is required as to whether so-called FA is sufficiently different to existing conditions and traits to warrant classification as a distinctive disease phenotype rather than an expression of strong habits and preferences.

Indexed as

Behavior, AddictiveFeeding and Eating DisordersBody Mass IndexBulimiaEatingFeeding BehaviorFoodHumansMental HealthQuality of LifeSelf-Assessment

Identifiers

PMID26633647
PMCPMC5644849

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.