ORIGINAL ARTICLE Psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Yale Food Addiction Scale Sandra Torres 1,2 • Marta Camacho 3 • Patrı ´cio Costa 4,5,1 • Gabriela Ribeiro 3,6 • Osvaldo Santos 7,8 • Filipa Mucha Vieira 1 • Isabel Branda ˜o 9,10 • Daniel Sampaio 11,12 • Albino J. Oliveira-Maia 3,13,14,15 Received: 7 May 2016 / Accepted: 15 December 2016 / Published online: 18 January 2017 Ó Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 Abstract Purpose Rising rates of obesity have been recently asso- ciated to the novel concept of food addiction (FA). The Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) is the most widely used measure for examining FA (1) and analysis of its reliability and validity is expected to facilitate empirical research on the construct. Here, we tested the psychometric properties of a Portuguese version of the YFAS (P-YFAS), estab- lishing its factor structure, reliability and construct validity. Methods Data were obtained from 468 Portuguese indi- viduals, 278 sampled from non-clinical populations, and 190 among obese candidates for weight-loss surgery. A battery of self-report measures of eating behavior was applied. Results Confirmatory factor analysis verified a one-factor structure with acceptable fit, with item analysis suggesting the need to eliminate item 24 from the P-YFAS. Internal consistency (KR-20 = .82) and test–retest stability were adequate. Correlation analyses supported convergent and divergent validity of the P-YFAS, particularly in the clin- ical sample. Both FA symptom count and diagnosis, according to the P-YFAS, adequately discriminated between samples, with classification of FA met by 2.5 and 25.8% of the participants in the non-clinical and clinical samples, respectively. This article is part of the topical collection on Food addiction. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s40519-016-0349-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. & Albino J. Oliveira-Maia albino.maia@neuro.fchampalimaud.org Sandra Torres storres@fpce.up.pt Marta Camacho marta.camacho@neuro.fchampalimaud.org Patrı ´cio Costa pcosta@fpce.up.pt Gabriela Ribeiro gabriela.ribeiro@neuro.fchampalimaud.org Osvaldo Santos osvaldorsantos@gmail.com Filipa Mucha Vieira fvieira@fpce.up.pt Isabel Branda ˜o isabelmbrandao@gmail.com Daniel Sampaio d.sampaio@netcabo.pt 1 Faculdade de Psicologia e de Cie ˆncias da Educac ¸a ˜o, Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal 2 Center for Psychology, Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal 3 Champalimaud Clinical Centre, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Avenida de Brası ´lia, Doca de Pedrouc ¸os, 1400-038 Lisbon, Portugal 4 Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), Escola de Cie ˆncias da Sau ´de, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal 5 ICVS/3B’s, PT Government Associate Laboratory, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal 6 Lisbon Academic Medical Centre, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida Prof. Egas Moniz, 1649-028 Lisbon, Portugal 7 Instituto de Medicina Preventiva e Sau ´de Pu ´blica, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida Prof. Egas Moniz, 1649-028 Lisbon, Portugal 123 Eat Weight Disord (2017) 22:259–267 DOI 10.1007/s40519-016-0349-6