Kalon, E., Hong, J. Y., Tobin, C., & Schulte, T. (2016). Psychological and Neurobiological Correlates of Food Addiction. International Review of Neurobiology, 129
, 85–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.irn.2016.06.003
From the research article’s abstract: “Food addiction (FA) is loosely defined as hedonic eating behavior involving the consumption of highly palatable foods (ie, foods high in salt, fat, and sugar) in quantities beyond homeostatic energy requirements. FA shares some common symptomology with other pathological eating disorders, such as binge eating. Current theories suggest that FA shares both behavioral similarities and overlapping neural correlates to other substance addictions. Although preliminary, neuroimaging studies in response to food cues and the consumption of highly palatable food in individuals with FA compared to healthy controls have shown differing activation patterns and connectivity in brain reward circuits including regions such as the striatum, amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, insula, and nucleus accumbens. Additional effects have been noted in the hypothalamus, a brain area responsible for regulating eating behaviors and peripheral satiety networks. ”