Kenny, P. J. (2013). The food addiction. Scientific American, 309
(3), 44–49. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0913-44
From the research article: “Obesity, it seems, is not caused by a lack of willpower. And it is not always caused by an imbalance in hormones. In some cases at least, obesity may be caused by hedonic overeating that hijacks the brain’s reward networks. Like addictive drugs, overeating creates a feedback loop in the brain’s reward centers—the more you consume, the more you crave, and the harder it is for you to satisfy that craving. But does that make hedonic eating an addiction? Drugs of abuse, such as morphine, stimulate the brain’s reward systems the way food does. Yet the similarities do not end there. When morphine is injected into the striatum of rats, it triggers bingelike overeating, even in rats that have been fed to satiety. This response shows that morphine and other opiates mimic the effects of neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) such as endorphins that are naturally produced in the brain to stimulate feeding behaviors.