Gearhardt, A. N., et al. (2014). The association of “food addiction” with disordered eating and body mass index. Eat Behav, 15(3), 427–433. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2014.05.001 From the clinical study’s results: “FA was higher in participants with BN than in those with binge eating disorder (BED). “Food addiction” continued to be related to clinically relevant variables, especially elevated BMI, even when participants did not meet criteria for BED or BN.”
Overlap of food addiction and substance use disorders definitions: Analysis of animal and human studies
Hone-Blanchet, A., & Fecteau, S. (2014). Overlap of food addiction and substance use disorders definitions: analysis of animal and human studies. Neuropharmacology, 85, 81–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2014.05.019 From the literature review’s highlights: “Animal models of overeating and compulsive eating do not explicitly describe human SUDs and animal and human findings do not entirely overlap.”
Overlap of food addiction and substance use disorders definitions: Analysis of animal and human studies
Hone-Blanchet, A., & Fecteau, S. (2014). Overlap of food addiction and substance use disorders definitions: analysis of animal and human studies. Neuropharmacology, 85, 81–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2014.05.019 From the research article’s abstract: “Food has both homeostatic and hedonic components, which makes it a potent natural reward. Food related reward could therefore promote an escalation of intake and trigger symptoms associated to withdrawal, suggesting a behavioral parallel with substance abuse. Animal and human theoretical models of food reward and addiction have emerged, raising further interrogations on the validity of a bond between Substance Use Disorders, as clinically categorized in the DSM 5, and food reward. These models propose that highly palatable food items, rich in sugar and/or fat, are overly stimulating to the brain’s reward pathways. Moreover, studies have also investigated the possibility of causal link between food reward and the contemporary obesity epidemic, with obesity being potentiated and maintained due to this overwhelming food reward. Although natural rewards are a hot topic in the definition and categorization of Substance Use Disorders, proofs of concept and definite evidence are still inconclusive. This review focuses on available results from experimental studies in animal and human models exploring the concept of food addiction, in an effort to determine if it depicts a specific phenotype and if there is truly a neurobiological similarity between food addiction and Substance Use Disorders. It describes results from sugar, fat and sweet-fat bingeing in rodent models, and behavioral and neurobiological assessments in different human populations. Although pieces of behavioral and neurobiological evidence supporting a food addiction phenotype in animals and humans are interesting, it seems premature to conclude on its validity.”
Bariatric surgery-induced weight loss causes remission of food addiction in extreme obesity
Pepino, M. Y., Stein, R. I., Eagon, J. C., & Klein, S. (2014). Bariatric surgery-induced weight loss causes remission of food addiction in extreme obesity. Obesity, 22(8), 1792–1798. https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.20797 From the research article’s abstract: “Objective: To test the hypotheses that bariatric surgery-induced weight loss: 1 induces remission of food addiction (FA), and 2 normalizes other eating behaviors associated with FA. Methods: Forty-four obese subjects (BMI= 48 ± 8 kg/m2) were studied before and after ∼20% weight loss induced by bariatric surgery (25 Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, 11 laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, and eight sleeve gastrectomy). We assessed: 1 FA (Yale Food Addiction Scale), 2 food cravings (Food Craving Inventory), and 3 restrictive, emotional and external eating behaviors (Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire). Results: FA was identified in 32% of subjects before surgery. Compared with non-FA subjects, those with FA craved foods more frequently, and had higher scores for emotional and external eating behaviors (all P-values <0.01; all Cohen’s d >0.8). Surgery-induced weight loss resulted in remission of FA in 93% of FA subjects; no new cases of FA developed after surgery.
Food cravings, appetite, and snack-food consumption in response to a psychomotor stimulant drug: the moderating effect of “food-addiction”
Davis, C., et al. (2014). Food addiction and its association with a dopaminergic multilocus genetic profile. Physiology and Behavior. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00403 From the experimental study’s abstract: “The finding that the food-addiction group was resistant to the food-intake suppression typically induced by a dopamine agonist supports evidence of dopamine signaling-strength differences.”
Development of the Modified Yale Food Addiction Scale Version 2.0
Schulte, E. M., & Gearhardt, A. N. (2017). Development of the Modified Yale Food Addiction Scale Version 2.0. European Eating Disorders Review, 25(4), 302-308. https://doi.org/10.1002/erv.2515 From the research article’s abstract: “The Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) operationalizes indicators of addictive-like eating, originally based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th edition Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) criteria for substance-use disorders. The YFAS has multiple adaptations, including a briefer scale (mYFAS). Recently, the YFAS 2.0 was developed to reflect changes to diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5. The current study developed a briefer version of the YFAS 2.0 (mYFAS 2.0) using the participant sample from the YFAS 2.0 validation paper (n = 536). Then, in an independent sample recruited from Mechanical Turk, 213 participants completed the mYFAS 2.0, YFAS 2.0, and measures of eating-related constructs in order to evaluate the psychometric properties of the mYFAS 2.0, relative to the YFAS 2.0.
Food addiction as a causal model of obesity. Effects on stigma, blame, and perceived psychopathology
Latner, J. D., Puhl, R. M., Murakami, J. M., & O’Brien, K. S. (2014). Food addiction as a causal model of obesity. Effects on stigma, blame, and perceived psychopathology. Appetite, 77, 79–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2014.03.004 From the research article’s abstract: “The present study examined the impact of the food-addiction model of obesity on weight stigma directed at obese people. Participants (n = 625) were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions. They were asked to read either a food-addiction explanatory model of obesity or a nonaddiction model, and subsequently read a vignette describing a target person who met the characteristics of one of these models and was either obese or of normal weight. Questionnaires assessed participants’ stigmatization and blame of targets and their attribution of psychopathology toward targets. Additional questionnaires assessed stigma and blame directed toward obese people generally, and personal fear of fat. A manipulation check revealed that the food-addiction experimental condition did significantly increase belief in the food-addiction model. Significant main effects for addiction showed that the food-addiction model produced less stigma, less blame, and lower perceived psychopathology attributed to the target described in vignettes, regardless of the target’s weight.
Prevalence of Childhood and Adult Obesity in the United States, 2011-2012
Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Kit, B. K., & Flegal, K. M. (2014). Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. JAMA, 311(8), 806–814. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2014.732 From the research article’s abstract: “Importance: More than one-third of adults and 17% of youth in the United States are obese, although the prevalence remained stable between 2003-2004 and 2009-2010. Objective: To provide the most recent national estimates of childhood obesity, analyze trends in childhood obesity between 2003 and 2012, and provide detailed childhood obesity trend analyses among adults. Design, Setting, and Participants: Weight and height or recumbent length were measured in 9120 participants in the 2011-2012 nationally representative National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Main Outcomes and Measures: In infants and toddlers from birth to 2 years, high weight for recumbent length was defined as weight for length at or above the 95th percentile of the sex-specific Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) growth charts.
Addicted to palatable foods: comparing the neurobiology of Bulimia Nervosa to that of drug addiction
Hadad, N. A., & Knackstedt, L. A. (2014). Addicted to palatable foods: comparing the neurobiology of Bulimia Nervosa to that of drug addiction. Psychopharmacology, 231(9), 1897–1912. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-014-3461-1 From the review article’s abstract: “Similar neurobiological features are present following administration of drugs and bingeing on palatable food, especially sugar. Specifically, both disorders involve increases in extracellular dopamine (DA), D1 binding, D3 messenger RNA (mRNA), and ΔFosB in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Animal models of BN reveal increases in ventral tegmental area (VTA) DA and enzymes involved in DA synthesis that resemble changes observed after exposure to addictive drugs. Additionally, alterations in the expression of glutamate receptors and prefrontal cortex activity present in human BN or following sugar bingeing in animals are comparable to the effects of addictive drugs. The two disorders differ in regards to alterations in NAc D2 binding, VTA DAT mRNA expression, and the efficacy of drugs targeting glutamate to treat these disorders. Although additional empirical studies are necessary, the synthesis of the two bodies of research presented here suggests that BN shares many neurobiological features with drug addiction. While few Food and Drug Administration-approved options currently exist for the treatment of drug addiction, pharmacotherapies developed in the future, which target the glutamate, DA, and opioid systems, may be beneficial for the treatment of both BN and drug addiction.”
A Qualitative Study of Binge Eating and Obesity From an Addiction Perspective
Curtis, C., & Davis, C. (2014). A qualitative study of binge eating and obesity from an addiction perspective. Eat Disord, 22(1), 19-32. https://doi.org/10.1080/10640266.2014.857515 From the qualitative study’s abstract: “Findings from this study demonstrate that food addiction can occur in obese individuals with and without BED.”