Food addiction: true or false?
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Food addiction has been implicated as a putative causal factor in chronic overeating, binge eating, and obesity. The concept of food addiction has been controversial historically due to definitional and conceptual difficulties and to a lack of rigorous scientific data. RECENT FINDINGS: Support for the food addiction hypothesis comes from alterations in neurochemistry (dopamine, endogenous opioids), neuroanatomy (limbic system), and self-medication behaviors. Foods identified as having potential addictive properties include sweets, carbohydrates, fats, sweet/fat combinations, and possibly processed and/or high salt foods. Eating topography has been identified as a necessary factor in neural pathway changes that promote addiction-like properties in response to some foods. A recently developed food addiction scale shows promise in identifying food addiction. SUMMARY: Recent findings have strengthened the case for food addiction. These findings may serve to validate the perception of food addiction in patients and inform psychoeducational, cognitive-behavioral, and/or pharmacological treatment for chronic food cravings, compulsive overeating, and binge eating that may represent a phenotype of obesity. Screening for food addiction has the potential to identify people with eating difficulties that seriously compromise weight management efforts. Future research should include a focus on human food addiction research; evaluating the impact of treatment on underlying neurochemistry; and prevention or reversal of food addiction in humans.
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The human response to food is complex and influenced by palatability, availability, eating topography, visual appeal, economics, incentives, social routines, alternative reinforcement, and advertisements.
“the response to foods in humans, is far more complex, and is influenced not just by its palatability but also by its availability (the patterns of restriction plus overeating, referred to as the eating topography (16)), its visual appeal, economics and incentives (i.e., ‘super sizing’ offers, soda combos), social routines for eating, alternative reinforcement and advertisements (17).”
From Obesity and addiction: Neurobiological overlaps (2013) · cites this paper as [16]
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- Authors
- Corsica, J. A., & Pelchat, M. L.
- Affiliations
- Rush University Medical Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Corsica, Joyce A
- ORCID
- Corsica, Joyce A
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Gastroenterology
- Published
- 2010-03
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 165-169
- ISSN
- 0267-1379 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2063756488
- Cited by
- 209
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 47 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 24
- FWCI
- 19.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Gastroenterology (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
- food addiction, binge eating, compulsive eating, obesity, dopamine, endogenous opioids, limbic system, self-medication, food cravings, weight management, neurochemistry
- MeSH terms
- Feeding and Eating Disorders, Bulimia, Feeding Behavior, Female, Food, Humans, Male, Obesity, Risk Factors, Sensitivity and Specificity, Behavior, Addictive
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