Investigation of factors associated with hedonic hunger in university students

Hedonic hunger is a condition characterized by the pleasure and motivation to consume delicious foods with high simple carbohydrate and sugar content,independent of physiological hunger. This study was conducted on 98 students (68 female and 30 male) in April-May 2023 to determine the presence of hedonic hunger and related factors in students of a foundation university. Health data such as demographic and anthropometric characteristics, smoking, alcohol consumption and physical activity status of the students were obtained using a questionnaire, dietary habits were obtained using a three-day food consumption record, hedonic hunger status was measured using the Power of Food Scale (PFS) and food cravings were measured using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) using a face-to-face interview technique. The female students participating in the study had body weights in the normal range, while the male students were overweight. The PFS scores of 82.6% of the students were found to be 2.5 and above and were associated with the presence of hedonic hunger. Of the students with hedonic hunger, 67.9% were female. A significant positive correlation was found between the body mass index and waist circumference values of the students and their hedonic hunger status. In the visual scale, students with hedonic hunger had significantly higher desire scores for fastfood, french fries and chocolate cake than students without hedonic hunger. In conclusion; it was determined that university students may have hedonic hunger and hedonic hunger leads to high energy, simple carbohydrate and fat rich food preferences in students and therefore hedonic hunger may increase the risk of obesity in students.