Background:

The concept of food addiction describes the difficulties of some individuals with regard to food consumption.

Objective:

To determine the frequency of food addiction and its association with body mass index (BMI), calorie consumption and therapeutic control in patients with newly-diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Material and methods:

A total of 1,080 patients with T2DM were included. The degree of metabolic control was determined with the levels of glycated hemoglobin, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and blood pressure. Daily caloric consumption was estimated with a semi-quantitative questionnaire of food consumption frequency.

Results:

Nearly all patients showed overweight (40.5 %) and obesity (49.1 %). The frequency of food addiction was 54.2 % (56.9 % in women and 48.9 % in men). Food addiction was associated with BMI (OR = 1.89, p ≤ 0.05), high caloric intake (OR = 1.14, p ≤ 0.05) and glycated hemoglobin > 7 % (OR = 1.43, p ≤ 0.05)

Conclusions:

Food addiction is common in patients with overweight/obesity and newly-diagnosed T2DM, and is associated with higher-than-recommended caloric consumption, obesity degree and poor metabolic control.