Ethical, Stigma, and Policy Implications of Food Addiction: A Scoping Review
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Abstract
The concept of food addiction has generated much controversy. In comparison to research examining the construct of food addiction and its validity, relatively little research has examined the broader implications of food addiction. The purpose of the current scoping review was to examine the potential ethical, stigma, and health policy implications of food addiction. Major themes were identified in the literature, and extensive overlap was identified between several of the themes. Ethics sub-themes related primarily to individual responsibility and included: (i) personal control, will power, and choice; and (ii) blame and weight bias. Stigma sub-themes included: (i) the impact on self-stigma and stigma from others, (ii) the differential impact of substance use disorder versus behavioral addiction on stigma, and (iii) the additive stigma of addiction plus obesity and/or eating disorder. Policy implications were broadly derived from comparisons to the tobacco industry and focused on addictive foods as opposed to food addiction. This scoping review underscored the need for increased awareness of food addiction and the role of the food industry, empirical research to identify specific hyperpalatable food substances, and policy interventions that are not simply extrapolated from tobacco.
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FA can increase internalized weight stigma among individuals.
“While the FA explanation for weight control has been shown to decrease weight stigma among groups [212,213] it has been suggested that FA can increase internalized weight stigma among individuals [214].”
From Food Addiction and Psychosocial Adversity: Biological Embedding, Contextual Factors, and Public Health Implications (2020) · cites this paper as [214]
Food addiction may reduce externalized stigma but increase internalized stigma.
“It has also been suggested that while FA reduces externalized stigma, it may increase internalized stigma [28].”
From Separating the Signal from the Noise: How Psychiatric Diagnoses Can Help Discern Food Addiction from Dietary Restraint (2020) · cites this paper as [28]
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References 91 · Cited by 52
- Authors
- Cassin, S. E., Buchman, D. Z., Leung, S. E., Kantarovich, K., Hawa, A., Carter, A., & Sockalingam, S.
- Affiliations
- University Health Network (CA)
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CA)
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Sockalingam, Sanjeev
- Venue
- Nutrients
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2019-03-27
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 710
- ISSN
- 2072-6643 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6521112
- OpenAlex
- W2923331652
- Cited by
- 52
- References
- 91
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 1.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- dx.doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nutrients (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Monash University Research Portal (Monash University) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (373261)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Obesity and Health Practices
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology
- Keywords
- food addiction, stigma, health policy, personal responsibility, weight bias, self-stigma, substance use disorders, behavioral addiction, obesity, eating disorders, food industry, hyperpalatable foods
- MeSH terms
- Food Addiction, Ethics, Health Policy, Humans, Food Industry, Social Stigma
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