Evaluation of nutritional status, food addiction, and awareness of individuals with type 2 diabetes

This study was conducted to evaluate the lifestyle, nutritional habits, and nutritional status of individuals with Type 2 diabetes and to determine the relationships of these variables with food addiction and eating awareness. The study consisted of 18-65-year-old individuals with and without Type 2 diabetes, 64 in each group, who presented to Başkent University Ankara Hospital Endocrinology Department. A questionnaire was administered to determine the participants' demographic characteristics, lifestyle habits, nutritional habits, and disease status. A 3-day food consumption form was used to determine their daily energy and nutrient intake. The food addiction status of the participants was determined using the "Yale Food Addiction Scale" (YFAS), and their eating awareness was determined with the "Eating Awareness Scale" (EAS). The body compositions of the individuals included in the study were measured, and their biochemical findings were obtained from the patient files. Of the participants, 92 were female, and 36 were male. The mean age of the individuals was 47.23 ± 9.95 years. The mean BMI of female individuals with Type 2 diabetes was 30.5 ± 5.46 kg / m2, and it was 30.1 ± 5.1 kg / m2 in females with no Type 2 diabetes (p> 0.05). The mean BMI of male individuals with Type 2 diabetes was 29.97 ± 5.6 kg / m2, and it was 34.3 ± 2.6 kg / m2 in males without Type 2 diabetes (p< 0.05). The mean daily energy intake of women with Type 2 diabetes was 1241±309.71 kcal/day, and it was 1219.5±217 kcal/day in women without Type 2 diabetes (p<0.05). The mean daily energy intake of men with Type 2 diabetes was 1552.5±480.1 kcal/day, and it was 1741.3±234.9 kcal/day in men without Type 2 diabetes (p>0.05). There was no statistically significant gender-based difference between the groups in terms of percentage values of daily energy from carbohydrates, protein, and fat (p>0.05). Of the participants with Type 2 diabetes, 39.1% had a food addiction, but 60.9% did not have it. While 29.7% of those without Type 2 diabetes had a food addiction, 70.3% did not have the addiction (p>0.05). The mean daily energy intake of those with Type 2 diabetes and food addiction was 1585.36±512.24 kcal/day, while this value was 1239.92±244.31 kcal/day in those who did not have Type 2 diabetes but had food addiction (p<0.05). The mean BMI value of those with Type 2 diabetes and food addiction was 31.50±615 kg/m2, and it was 32.69±5.78 kg/m2 in those who did not have Type 2 diabetes but had food addiction (p>0.05). The mean score of individuals with Type 2 diabetes from the EAS-30 was 3.50±0.49, and the mean score of those without Type 2 diabetes from this scale was 3.56±0.52 (p>0.05). A statistically significant difference was found between the scores of individuals with and without Type 2 diabetes from the "emotional eating", "focused eating", and "eating control" sub-dimensions of the YFS-30 (p<0.05). In conclusion, no statistically significant difference was found between individuals with and without Type 2 diabetes in terms of food addiction and the mean scores obtained from the YFS-30 (p>0.05).