The prevalence of food addiction and its association with type 2 diabetes: a systematic review with meta-analysis

ABSTRACT To determine the prevalence of FA in individuals with type 2 diabetes and to assess the association between FA and type 2 diabetes. MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Sciences, Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and PsycINFO were searched until November 2024. This study was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42023465903). Cross-sectional studies, case-control, cohorts, and clinical trials that were carried out with individuals with type 2 diabetes, regardless of age and sex, were included. The complete data extracted included the prevalence, odds ratio, and/or risk ratio of FA, the number of individuals evaluated, age, sex, weight, presence of comorbidities, age of participants, and FA symptoms. A pooled prevalence of FA of 30% (95% CI [18; 44] with estimated predictive interval [0; 85]; I 2 = 99.51; 12 studies; 15947 participants) was identified. For the associations between FA and type 2 diabetes, we found a grouped crude odds ratio value of 2.35 (95%CI [1.71; 2.98]). The pooled odds ratio adjusted for age and sex was 2.60 (95% CI [1.77; 3.42]). Finally, the odds ratio adjusted for age, sex, and body mass index (BMI) was 2.01 (95%CI [1.39; 2.64]). The results of the meta-analyses showed a high prevalence of FA in individuals with type 2 diabetes and that the associations between these two conditions remained even after adjustment for age, sex, and BMI, although with a high heterogeneity among individual estimates.