Burrows, T., Kay-Lambkin, F., Pursey, K., Skinner, J., & Dayas, C. (2018). Food addiction and associations with mental health symptoms: a systematic review with meta-analysis. J Hum Nutr Diet, 31(4), 544-572. https://doi.org/10.1111/jhn.12532 Conclusions: “A significant, positive relationship exists between food addiction and mental health symptoms, although the results of the present study highlight the complexity of this relationship.”
Food Addiction and Binge Eating: Lessons Learned from Animal Models
Novelle, M. G., & Diéguez, C. (2018). Food Addiction and Binge Eating: Lessons Learned from Animal Models. Nutrients, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10010071 From the research article’s abstract: “The feeding process is required for basic life, influenced by environment cues and tightly regulated according to demands of the internal milieu by regulatory brain circuits. Although eating behaviour cannot be considered “addictive” under normal circumstances, people can become “addicted” to this behaviour, similarly to how some people are addicted to drugs. The symptoms, cravings and causes of “eating addiction” are remarkably similar to those experienced by drug addicts, and both drug-seeking behaviour as eating addiction share the same neural pathways. However, while the drug addiction process has been highly characterised, eating addiction is a nascent field. In fact, there is still a great controversy over the concept of “food addiction”.
Are emotionally driven and addictive-like eating behaviors the missing links between psychological distress and greater body weight?
Bourdier, L., Orri, M., Carre, A., Gearhardt, A. N., Romo, L., Dantzer, C., & Berthoz, S. (2018). Are emotionally driven and addictive-like eating behaviors the missing links between psychological distress and greater body weight? Appetite, 120, 536-546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2017.10.013 From the conclusion: “Our results stress the importance of considering overeating to reduce negative emotions and addictive-like eating as eating-related phenotypes that may increase the likelihood of having a higher BMI. Here, this was the case for both females and males. This study further underline the importance of paying regard to the links between how one’s feel and one’s eat in the multidimensional treatment of compulsive eating behaviors …”
Food Addiction, High-Glycemic-Index Carbohydrates, and Obesity
Lennerz, B., & Lennerz, J. K. (2018). Food Addiction, High-Glycemic-Index Carbohydrates, and Obesity. Clinical chemistry, 64(1), 64–71. https://doi.org/10.1373/clinchem.2017.273532 From the review’s abstract: “High-glycemic-index carbohydrates elicit a rapid shift in blood glucose and insulin levels, akin to the pharmacokinetics of addictive substances, and signal to the mesolimbic system to modify dopamine concentration.”
Food addiction: A common neurobiological mechanism with drug abuse
Lindgren, E., Gray, K., Miller, G., Tyler, R., Wiers, C. E., Volkow, N. D., & Wang, G. J. (2018). Food addiction: A common neurobiological mechanism with drug abuse. Frontiers in Bioscience (Landmark Edition), 23, 811–836. https://doi.org/10.2741/4618 From the research article’s abstract: “Drugs and food both exert a rewarding effect through the firing of dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area, resulting in the release of dopamine into the nucleus accumbens and effects on the mesolimbic pathway. Here, we review the neuroimaging literature to consider the validity of food addiction and the common neurobiological mechanisms that overlap in food and drug addiction. This review paper focuses on findings from Positron Emission Tomography (PET), functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and structural imaging studies, as well as evidence from neuroimaging studies of bariatric surgery and pharmacological interventions on obese individuals. We examine not only functional and structural changes in the mesolimbic pathways, but also in other frontal areas shown to be involved in drug addiction, including the prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, as well as changes in neurotransmitter systems beyond dopaminergic systems.”
Food Addiction, High-Glycemic-Index Carbohydrates, and Obesity
Lennerz, B., & Lennerz, J. K. (2018). Food Addiction, High-Glycemic-Index Carbohydrates, and Obesity. Clinical Chemistry, 64(1), 64–71. https://doi.org/10.1373/clinchem.2017.273532 From the research article’s abstract: “Treatment success in obesity remains low, and recently food addiction has been delineated as an underlying etiologic factor with therapeutic relevance. Specifically, current treatment focuses on reduced food intake and increase of physical activity, whereas interventions for addiction encompass behavioral therapy, abstinence, and environmental interventions such as taxation, restrictions on advertising, and regulation of school menus. Here, we reviewed the pertinent literature on food addiction with a specific focus on the role of high-glycemic-index carbohydrates in triggering addictive symptoms. Three lines of evidence support the concept of food addiction: (a) behavioral responses to certain foods are similar to substances of abuse; (b) food intake regulation and addiction rely on similar neurobiological circuits; (c) individuals suffering from obesity or addiction show similar neurochemical- and brain activation patterns. High-glycemic-index carbohydrates elicit a rapid shift in blood glucose and insulin levels, akin to the pharmacokinetics of addictive substances. Similar to drugs of abuse, glucose and insulin signal to the mesolimbic system to modify dopamine concentration.
The Association between Food Addiction and Early Maladaptive Schemas in Overweight and Obese Women: A Preliminary Investigation
Imperatori, C., Innamorati, M., Lester, D., Continisio, M., Balsamo, M., Saggino, A., & Fabbricatore, M. (2017). The Association between Food Addiction and Early Maladaptive Schemas in Overweight and Obese Women: A Preliminary Investigation. Nutrients, 9(11), 1259. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu9111259 From the clinical study’s core discovery: “Disconnection/Rejection is the primary schema domain independently linked to Food Addiction (FA) severity.”
The Association between Food Addiction and Early Maladaptive Schemas in Overweight and Obese Women: A Preliminary Investigation
Imperatori, C., Innamorati, M., Lester, D., Continisio, M., Balsamo, M., Saggino, A., & Fabbricatore, M. (2017). The Association between Food Addiction and Early Maladaptive Schemas in Overweight and Obese Women: A Preliminary Investigation. Nutrients, 9(11), 1259. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu9111259 From the research article’s abstract: “In recent years, there has been a growing focus on early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) as core features associated with eating psychopathology. The aims of the present study were to assess in overweight and obese women: (i) the association between dysfunctional eating patterns (i.e., food addiction and binge eating) and EMSs, and (ii) the association between food addiction and EMSs after controlling for potential confounding variables (i.e., binge eating severity and psychopathology). Participants were 70 overweight and obese women seeking low-energy-diet therapy. The patients were administered self-report measures investigating food addiction, binge eating, EMSs, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms. Food addiction severity was strongly associated with all main schema domains. Binge eating severity was positively related to disconnection/rejection (r = 0.41; p < 0.01), impaired limits (r = 0.26; p < 0.05), and other-directedness domains (r = 0.27; p < 0.05).
The dopamine motive system implications for drug and Food Addiction
Volkow, N. D., Wise, R. A., & Baler, R. (2017). The dopamine motive system: implications for drug and Food Addiction. Nat Rev Neurosci, 18(12), 74 1 -75 (2) https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.2017.130 Review volkow2017 .pdf
The dopamine motive system: implications for drug and food addiction
Volkow, N. D., Wise, R. A., & Baler, R. (2017). The dopamine motive system: implications for drug and food addiction. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 18(12), 741-752. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn.2017.130 From the research article’s abstract: “Behaviours such as eating, copulating, defending oneself or taking addictive drugs begin with a motivation to initiate the behaviour. Both this motivational drive and the behaviours that follow are influenced by past and present experience with the reinforcing stimuli (such as drugs or energy-rich foods) that increase the likelihood and/or strength of the behavioural response (such as drug taking or overeating). At a cellular and circuit level, motivational drive is dependent on the concentration of extrasynaptic dopamine present in specific brain areas such as the striatum. Cues that predict a reinforcing stimulus also modulate extrasynaptic dopamine concentrations, energizing motivation. Repeated administration of the reinforcer (drugs, energy-rich foods) generates conditioned associations between the reinforcer and the predicting cues, which is accompanied by downregulated dopaminergic response to other incentives and downregulated capacity for top-down self-regulation, facilitating the emergence of impulsive and compulsive responses to food or drug cues. Thus, dopamine contributes to addiction and obesity through its differentiated roles in reinforcement, motivation and self-regulation, referred to here as the ‘dopamine motive system’, which, if compromised, can result in increased, habitual and inflexible responding. Thus, interventions to rebalance the dopamine motive system might have therapeutic potential for obesity and addiction.”