Journal article
Belief in Food Addiction and Obesity-Related Policy Support
PloS one, v 11(1), pp e0147557-e0147557
25 Jan 2016
PMID: 26808427
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Objectives
This study examines whether belief in the food addiction construct is associated with support for obesity-related policies (e. g., restrictions on foods served in schools and workplace cafeterias, subsidies on fruits and vegetables), while simultaneously examining other factors associated with policy support (e. g., political party affiliation).
Design
Cross-sectional.
Setting
Online Community.
Participants
200 individuals were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk.
Measurements
Participants (n = 193) responded to three questions about belief in food addiction and a measure evaluating support for 13 obesity-related policy initiatives. Individuals also completed the modified Yale Food Addiction Scale (mYFAS), self-reported height and weight, and provided demographic information (age, gender, race, political party affiliation).
Results
Belief in food addiction was significantly associated with greater support for obesity-related initiatives, even when accounting for the significant associations of age, gender, and political party. Belief in food addiction and political party both had moderate effect sizes for predicting support for obesity-related policy. There was an interaction between age and belief in food addiction, with significant associations with policy support for both younger and older individuals, though the effect was larger for younger participants.
Conclusion
The current study provides evidence that belief in food addiction is associated with increased obesity-related policy support, comparable to the influence of one's political party. Growing evidence for the role of an addictive process in obesity may have important implications for public support of obesity-related policy initiatives.
Metrics
10 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Belief in Food Addiction and Obesity-Related Policy Support
- Creators
- Erica M. Schulte - University of MichiganHannah M. Tuttle - University of North Carolina at Chapel HillAshley N. Gearhardt - University of Michigan
- Publication Details
- PloS one, v 11(1), pp e0147557-e0147557
- Publisher
- Public Library Science
- Number of pages
- 12
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Center for Weight, Eating and Lifestyle Science (WELL) [Historical]
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000369527800133
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85020070333
- Other Identifier
- 991020100205204721
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
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InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Nutrition & Dietetics