Can food be addictive?

by Kelly Brownell

Professionals who help people with obesity often hear the language of addiction. People talk about cravings, having symptoms like headaches when they stop eating some foods, and experiencing relief of negative moods when they get a chance to eat. The possibility of food addiction has been rejected for the most part, but finally there is some research. The initial results are striking.

Princeton researchers had lab animals on a high-sugar diet and when the sugar was withdrawn, found an identical response in the brain as when animals are withdrawn from classic addictive substances like morphine. Using brain imaging techniques, researchers at the Univ. of Florida found similar things with humans.

If these early results hold up, one can imagine the implications on issues such as selling some foods in schools, advertising some products to children, etc.  The question is -- do you feel food could be addictive and if so, what would it mean?

Comments

[Amanda]

I have no doubt that it is right. Ever since I heard about the brain images... I knew that my thoughts about me being addicted to food weren't crazy after all. I have been stoned on more than one occassion in the past, and I can say for certain that when I would binge, I would get that same high, stoned feeling and stare off into oblivion just as if I'd smoked a joint.
The idea is bigger than just what would happen in schools... the idea completely challenges the lazy and stupid stereotype of obesity. If all of us aren't really lazy and stupid, then society will have to accept that legitimate medical treatment that is covered by insurance will be necessary to help us. But also, it could mean that we face more discrimination than we currently do by adding on the stigma of being addicts.

[maureen]

I recently kicked the sugar habit (again) and I do believe that I was addicted, especially to chocolate.

I would find myself foraging for chocolate, get migraine headaches after eating it but still repeat the same behavior day after day. If it weren't for the headaches, I'd probably still be gaining weight from eating thousands of calories per day of sugary foods.

If sugar is addictive, the implications for food manufacturers are HUGE! For one thing they'll have to stop putting High Fructose Corn Syrup in practically everything we eat and drink. Think of all the reformulating they're going to have to do.

This sugar addict really appreciates the work you are doing. Maybe the next generation can be spared the horrors of obesity.

[Noah]

Hello.

There are several ways to look for addiction in others, including the following:

1. Look for psychological symptoms of addiction (for example, look for the addictive personality in someone).

2. Look for physiological symptoms of addiction (for example, look for the biochemical indicators of an addiction high or withdrawal in someone).

3. Look for behavioral symptoms of addiction (for example, search out the habitual consumption or performance behaviors of someone).

Did the Princeton researchers' imaging tests directly show relative levels of metabolic byproducts of brain activity?

How did the researchers know that their subjects would not show identical physiological responses regardless of the particular consumption or performance behaviors that the subjects were deprived of doing?

Did the researchers compare their results to the physiological events that accompany repeated experience of non-addictive behaviors like listening to music, having sex, playing sports, or (oops) eating? There are non-chemical causes for a difference between individual desires for pleasurable experiences, right? It seems like the researchers are showing that, at least in the case of sugary food, there is not much difference. Yet people desire, consume, and enjoy sugary foods their whole lives. People do not have a tolerance response to sugary foods, but they will die rather than give up sugary foods. They have their tastes. They experience emotional pain if you try to deny them the foods that they enjoy.

How did the Princeton researchers distinguish between correlated and symptomatic desire for the withdrawn food in their brain imaging study? Does a brain image of a strong desire for pleasure look different from a brain image of drug withdrawal? If so, then how sure are they of that? If not, then the researchers cannot put the blame on sugar for what they saw. Maybe the modern American seeks pleasure in a manner stronger than its drugs dictate, and that is all the researchers showed.

However, assuming that we should eat less sugar, several approaches can reduce our sugar consumption, including the following:

1. create an environment that limits opportunities for sugar consumption.

2. create a social and/or advertising environment that discourages sugar consumption.

3. Create foods and food eating habits that do not provide the information from which the human brain can learn to overeat on sugary foods.

4. Create drugs that discourage sugar consumption.

5. Engineer genes that reduce the ability to sense the taste and smell of sugary foods.

6. Engineer genes that alter the metabolism of simple carbohydrates.

7. Create lifestyles that do not contain the information from which the human brain can learn to overeat on sugary foods.

You all work hard on food environment and advertising issues. Therapists attempt the lifestyle approach. Other scientists are or will work on gene engineering approaches, and probably the drug approach.
If you are working on approach number three, please write about it.

-Noah

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[Crizette]

Food is addictive especially those with high sugar content. I must admit I'm very much addicted to chocolates and cakes. I eat chocolates and cakes almost everyday just to satisfy my craving for it and I don't even know why. It's just like using our credit cards, we get addicted to it that we can't help but use it as often as we like only to realize that we have lots billings to pay that would affect our credit score, though with addiction to food, we later realize we gain so much weight from it and affects our health.

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