Wiss, D., & Brewerton, T. (2020). Separating the Signal from the Noise: How Psychiatric Diagnoses Can Help Discern Food Addiction from Dietary Restraint. Nutrients, 12(10).https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12102937
“…While there is disagreement regarding FA, it appears that much of the controversy pertains to
the treatment (lacking data) rather than the existence of the problem (robust data). More specifically,
nutrition interventions for individuals with FA and co-occurring ED characterized by high levels
of dietary restraint are less clear than for individuals with FA and no history of restrictive ED.
Individualized treatment might be helpful based on the existence of FA, but only after it has been
determined that the FA signal represents an addiction to food (true positive), rather than a consequenceof dietary restraint, food insecurity or insufficiency, or other forms of deprivation or food-related neglect (false positive). Dismissing FA as a clinical entity is ill informed and not helpful. FA may warrant consideration as a distinct category in the DSM, which might lead to additional research at the individual and group level, as well as public health efforts to improve the national food environment. …”