Food Addiction Risk Accelerates Fat Accumulation in Youth: Potential Protective Roles of Left Insula and Mindful Eating
Authors' conclusion
FA may link eating motives to fat accumulation in youth, particularly abdominal fat; mindful eating may be protective, with left insula structure and left insula-striatum connectivity as possible neural correlates.
Study context
- Population
- Youth (55.5% boys; mean age 12.69 ± 3.04 years)2,071 screened
- Participants
- 1,601 participants
- Outcome
- Food addiction (FA), eating motives, mindful eating and weight status
- Follow-up
- Baseline
Methodological detailslongitudinal 6- and 12-month follow-ups, independent MRI sample, structural equation modeling, latent growth modeling, voxel-based morphometry
- Longitudinal 6- and 12-month follow-ups
- Independent MRI sample
- Structural equation modeling
- Latent growth modeling
- Voxel-based morphometry
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
- Food addiction (FA) mediated the relationship between eating motives and weight status; mindful eating moderated this pathway
- p < 0.05
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Baseline FA and longitudinal fat accumulation · 6- and 12-month follow-ups
- Baseline FA did not predict BMI z-score
- P > 0.05
- Baseline FA predicted accelerated accumulation of fat content and visceral fat level
- 880 and 564 completed the 6- and 12-month follow-ups
Left insula gray-matter volume (MRI sample, n = 75)
- Left insula gray-matter volume negatively associated with FA and positively associated with mindful eating
Original publication
Food Addiction Risk Accelerates Fat Accumulation in Youth: Potential Protective Roles of Left Insula and Mindful Eating. Obesity (Silver Spring). Published 31 May 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →