In the present study, the multidimensional Trait and State Food Cravings Questionnaires (FCQ-T and FCQ-S), as developed by Cepeda-Benito, Gleaves, Williams, and Erath, [2000. The development and validation of the State and Trait Food Cravings Questionnaires. Behavior Therapy, 31, 151-173], were modified in order to construct an index of general food craving instead of specific food craving. The...

Food cravings refer to an intense desire to eat specific foods. The Food Cravings Questionnaire-Trait (FCQ-T) is the most commonly used instrument to assess food cravings as a multidimensional construct. Its 39 items have an underlying nine-factor structure for both the original English and Spanish version; but subsequent studies yielded fewer factors. As a result, a 15-item version of the FCQ-...

PURPOSE The aim of the present study was to investigate dimensionality and psychometric properties of the Italian Food Cravings Questionnaire-Trait-reduced (FCQ-T-r) in a sample of obese and overweight patients seeking weight loss treatment. METHODS Participants were 504 (416 women and 88 men) overweight and obese patients (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m(2)), and 289 (215 women and 74 men) Italian adults not ...

One of the most often used instruments for the assessment of food cravings is the Food Cravings Questionnaire (FCQ), which consists of a trait (FCQ-T; 39 items) and state (FCQ-S; 15 items) version. Scores on the FCQ-T have been found to be positively associated with eating pathology, body mass index (BMI), low dieting success and increases in state food craving during cognitive tasks involving ...

Obesity is a heterogeneous condition with obese individuals displaying different eating patterns. Growing evidence suggests that there is a subgroup of obese adults that is marked by frequent and intense food cravings and addiction-like consumption of high-calorie foods. Little is known, however, about such a subgroup of obese individuals in childhood and adolescence. In the present study, a sa...

Food cravings have been understudied in bariatric surgery patients and the Food Craving Questionnaire-Trait has not been validated in this population. Reliability and validity of the FCQ-T were examined and a regression analysis was run to determine whether or not preoperative scores on individual subscales of the instrument could predict weight loss at 6 months. The FCQ-T demonstrated excellen...

Diet failures are often attributed to an increase in cravings for attractive foods. However, accumulating evidence shows that food cravings actually decrease during energy-restricting weight-loss interventions. The current study aimed at elucidating possible mechanisms that may explain how and under which circumstances food cravings in- or decrease during dieting. Specifically, decreases in foo...

The fat mass and obesity associated gene (FTO) was the first gene identified by genome-wide association studies to correlate with higher body mass index (BMI) and increased odds of obesity. FTO remains the locus with the largest and most replicated effect on body weight, but the mechanism whereby FTO affects body weight and the development of obesity is not fully understood. Here we tested whet...