14 DAY TRIAL // In a recent paper in the journal Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, researchers with the University of Edinburgh in the UK and colleagues argue that, in the case of some people, eating can prove as addictive as gambling.
The specialists go on to argue that this find might explain why it is that the global obesity rate has soared in recent years, and why many of the folks who pack too much weight for their own good find it very difficult to slim down.
Eating as a psychological addiction
Several previous studies have argued that, according to evidence at hand, food that has a high fat and sugar content triggers actual bodily changes, essentially causing people to develop a physiological addiction to it.
The University of Edinburgh specialists, on the other hand, maintain that eating addiction is birthed not by compounds in food, but by the positive feelings that derive from feasting on various dishes. In a nutshell, they claim that eating is a psychological addiction.
What this means is that, contrary to what was said before, the brain does not react to ingredients in various foods as it does to drugs like heroin or cocaine. Instead, it becomes addicted to the psychological pleasure resulting from eating.
Hence, eating addiction is not so much similar to heroin and cocaine addiction as it is to the compulsion to gamble or engage in other behaviors that, in the long run, prove detrimental to one's physical and mental wellbeing.
“There is currently very little evidence to support the idea that any ingredient, food item, additive or combination of ingredients has addictive properties,” specialist Suzanne Dickson with the University of Gothenburg wishes to stress.
Curbing Obesity
In light of these findings, the University of Edinburgh scientists and fellow researchers argue that it might be possible to curb the global obesity rate by focusing more on people's relationship with food and less on the ingredients used to make various treats and snacks. The idea is to look at overeating not as a substance-based addiction, but as a mental disorder.
“People try to find rational explanations for being over-weight and it is easy to blame food. Certain individuals do have an addictive-like relationship with particular foods and they can over-eat despite knowing the risks to their health.”
“More avenues for treatment may open up if we think about this condition as a behavioral addiction rather than a substance-based addiction,” argues researcher John Menzies with University of Edinburgh's Centre for Integrative Physiology.