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Food addiction more common among women who experienced PTSD

Women with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder were more likely to experience food addiction, according to new research funded by the NIH.

Researchers studied 49,408 women selected from the Nurses’ Health Study II. Women were aged 25 to 42 years and represented 14 states when they joined the study in 1989.

Eighty percent of participants reported some type of exposure to trauma. Of those, 66% reported at least one symptom of PTSD in their lifetime, as self-reported in 2008 using a modified version of the Brief Trauma Questionnaire. Thirty-nine percent of those who reported PTSD symptoms cited one to three symptoms, 17% reported four to five symptoms, and 10% reported six to seven symptoms.

Food addiction prevalence, according to the modified Yale Food Addiction Scale, among the overall cohort was 8%, but in women who reported six to seven PTSD symptoms at some time in their life, 18% showed symptoms of food addiction (adjusted prevalence ratio, 2.68; 95% CI, 2.41-2.97). The strongest correlation was among those whose PTSD symptoms were reported at a younger age. Prevalence of food addiction was 6% among the women who reported no lifetime PTSD symptoms. Confounders such as parental education, parental lifetime history of depression and other factors were used to adjust the final analysis.

“Symptoms of PTSD were associated with increased food addiction prevalence in this cohort of women,” the researchers wrote. “Strategies to reduce obesity associated with PTSD may require psychological and behavioral interventions that address dependence on food and/or use of food to cope with distress.”

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.