The DOI matches its Crossref record; 159 of the 160 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The plausibility of sugar addiction and its role in obesity and eating disorders
Abstract
Background & aims To consider the hypothesis that addiction to food, or more specifically sucrose, plays a role in obesity and eating disorders.Methods By considering the relevant literature a series of predictions were examined, derived from the hypothesis that addiction to sucrose consumption can develop. Fasting should increase food cravings, predominantly for sweet items; cravings should occur after an overnight fast; the obese should find sweetness particularly attractive; a high-sugar consumption should predispose to obesity. More specifically predictions based on the hypothesis that addiction to sugar is central to bingeing disorders were developed. Dieting should predate the development of bingeing; dietary style rather than psychological, social and economic factors should be predispose to eating disorders; sweet items should be preferentially consumed while bingeing; opioid antagonists should cause withdrawal symptoms; bingeing should develop at a younger age when there is a greater preference for sweetness.Results The above predications have in common that on no occasion was the behaviour predicted by an animal model of sucrose addiction supported by human studies.Conclusion There is no support from the human literature for the hypothesis that sucrose may be physically addictive or that addiction to sugar plays a role in eating disorders.
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“Nevertheless, the validity of the concept of food addiction remains vigorously debated (41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47).”
From Effects of dietary glycemic index on brain regions related to reward and craving in men (2013) · cites this paper as [41]
Citations
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Obesity and the Economics of Prevention
OECD (2010) · OECD eBooks · doi:10.1787/9789264084865-en · Cited by 737
“Eating addiction”, rather than “food addiction”, better captures addictive-like eating behavior
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“Furthermore, fasting reduces cravings [111–113] rather than increasing them, as would be expected from the nutrient shortage hypothesis.”
BackgroundObesity and the brain: how convincing is the addiction model?
Ziauddeen, H., Farooqi, I. S., & Fletcher, P. C. (2012) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn3212 · Cited by 462
“Indeed, the validity of sugar addiction as a concept that could apply to humans has been criticize”
Metadata
- Authors
- Benton, D.
- Affiliations
- Swansea University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Benton, David
- ORCID
- Benton, David
- Venue
- Clinical Nutrition
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-06
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 288-303
- ISSN
- 0261-5614 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1969292536
- Cited by
- 144
- References
- 160
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 8.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Clinical Nutrition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Regulation of Appetite and Obesity
- Keywords
- sugar addiction, sucrose, obesity, eating disorders, binge eating, food cravings, fasting, sweet taste preference, opioid antagonists, dieting, animal models of addiction
- MeSH terms
- Aging, Animals, Feeding and Eating Disorders, Diet, Dopamine, Food Preferences, Humans, Narcotic Antagonists, Obesity, Reward, Dietary Sucrose, Substance-Related Disorders
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