Food–alcohol competition: As young females eat more food, do they drink less alcohol?

Abstract

Seminal health behaviour theories and behaviour modification techniques are applied to health behaviours individually. Limited empirical work investigates how change in one health behaviour may change another. This study proposes a food-alcohol competition hypothesis, where individuals tend to consume one rewarding substance to the other's exclusion. In a large sample of adolescent girls assessed yearly from age 15 to 19, Latent Growth Modelling indicated that a tendency to consume processed or sweet high-fat foods 'competed' with a tendency to drink alcohol. In order to best improve overall health, it is important to consider interrelationships between food and alcohol consumption.