Assessment of Food Addiction and Night Eating Syndrome in University Students Living in Ankara

Objective: Food addiction is defined as the specific sensitivity of one person to one or more regularly consumed foods. Night eating syndrome is defined as a disease characterized by morning anorexia, evening hyperphagia and insomnia based on clinical observations of obese people. In this study, it was aimed to determine the prevalence of food addiction and night eating syndrome in university students more commonly observed in young age groups. Method: The study was conducted with 639 female and 280 male total 919 university students living in Ankara and accepting to participate in the study. A questionnaire including the Nutrition Eating Questionnaire and the Yale Food Addiction Scale was administered to the students. Results: 91,0% of the undergraduates had no food addiction. The proportion of undergraduate with food addiction is 9,0%. Only 2,0% of undergraduates participating in the study have meet the diagnostic criteria for night eating syndrome. Food addiction was found in 10,5% of undergraduates with night-eating syndrome and also 9,0% of individuals without night-eating syndrome (p 0,05). Conclusion: As a result, night eating syndrome and food addiction are different eating disorders. But there is a need for studies on the relationship between these two eating disorders.