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Dietary intake, food addiction and nutrition knowledge in young people with mental illness
Author(s) -
Teasdale Scott B.,
Burrows Tracy L.,
Hayes Tegan,
Hsia Cin Y.,
Watkins Andrew,
Curtis Jackie,
Ward Philip B.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
nutrition and dietetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.479
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1747-0080
pISSN - 1446-6368
DOI - 10.1111/1747-0080.12550
Subject(s) - anxiety , addiction , medicine , depression (economics) , population , mental health , food addiction , mental illness , psychiatry , environmental health , economics , macroeconomics
Aim The aim of this study was to comprehensively assess dietary intake, nutrition knowledge and food addiction in young people with mental illness. Methods This was a three‐arm cross‐sectional study of 16–25‐year‐olds attending community mental health services who met criteria for: (i) first‐episode psychosis (FEP), (ii) ultra‐high risk for psychosis (UHR) or (iii) depression/anxiety. Participants self‐completed three validated questionnaires: (i) Australian Eating Survey, (ii) General Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire—Revised and (iii) Yale Food Addiction Score Questionnaire. Results Thirty participants (mean age 19.7 ± 2.5 years) completed the study (10 per study arm); 43% of the energy intake was obtained from energy‐dense, non‐nutritious foods, higher than the recommended upper limit (<15%) and the levels reported in the general population (35%). Mean diet quality score was 33.5 ± 11.8 of 73. Mean food addiction symptom score was 3.3 ± 3.7. Prevalence of food addiction was 37%. Nutrition knowledge was lower in the FEP and UHR participants than the depression/anxiety group (48.2 ± 13.8 and 49.5 ± 8.2 of 88 respectively); however, this difference was not statistically significant. Conclusions Unhealthy dietary intake was observed in the early stages of mental illness, likely seeding future poor physical health. Further research is needed on the role of food addiction in this population, including effective intervention techniques.