Agradecimentos: This study was partially funded by CAPES – Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel), financial code 001. DTC is thanks Cnpq – Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico for his productivity grant 310450/2021-7. We would like to acknowledge Michael Lowe of Drexel’s College of Arts and Sciences and his team to allow us to use the PFS. We would like to acknowledge Gabriela Ribeiro of Faculdade de Medicina of Universidade de Lisboa and her team for allowing us to use the Portuguese version of PFS Ver menos

Abstract: The present study has three main objectives: a) to analyse, for the first time, the factor structure of the Control of Eating Questionnaire (CoEQ) in a Brazilian sample; b) to explore, through in-depth interviews, motivators and consequences of food cravings among participants with high scores on the CoEQ; and c) to analyse whether and how the power of food is related to food cravings. The study involved 335 young adults aged 18-30 years, balanced for sex. The CoEQ and the Power of Food Scale (PFS) were used in an online survey. The CoEQ and PFS were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with a subsample (n = 20) with high CoEQ scores. The Socratic questioning method was used for the interviews. The interviews were transcribed and analysed according to thematic content analysis. The PFS and the CoEQ showed adequate factor structure with reliable factors. The results of the qualitative analysis showed that both food availability and seeking relief from stressors serve as motives for food cravings. Concern for health and weight gain were cited as consequences of cravings, as was seeking distraction to cope with these cravings. It was found that the PFS aggregate factor was a significant influencing factor for craving control (ß = 0.604; p < 0.001), craving for savoury (ß = 0.382; p < 0.001), craving for sweet (ß = 0.414; p < 0.001) and positive mood (ß = -0.198; p < 0.001). The findings suggest that the relationship between food cravings and the power of food is significant in today's obesogenic environment Ver menos