Is Food Addiction Real?

Can’t quit at just one piece of chocolate? Overeat until you’re in bloated agony and don’t know why you can’t stop? Maybe you have an addiction to food.

Or maybe not.

While our bodies respond to food with a reward system of sorts, no claims have been validated as a true addiction. In order to fit the classification of an addictive substance, scientists must be able to identify a specific chemical in food that causes a change in chemical change in the body’s reward system.

How The Body’s Reward System for Food Works:

• Affects our brain in the same ways as substance abuse.
• Often sparked by emotional stress, boredom, sour mood, or overeating.
• Affect is stronger in individuals with previously restricted food intake.
• Continued eating decreases dopamine in the brain – overeating creates a constant craving for a stronger chemical response.
• The fat cell hormone, leptin usually tells the brain that our bodies are satiated. Obesity related leptin resistance alters the system.
• Ghrelin (known as the hunger hormone) stimulates reward center for food in the same way as alcohol and drugs.

It has also been suggested that, instead of considering food as substance abuse, it should be treated like a behavioral addiction, or process addiction. By definition, this kind of addiction temporarily alleviates internal discomfort through a pleasurable, enjoyed experience, but cannot be controlled or discontinued, despite negative consequences.

Addictive Food Behaviors

According to the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS), research has shown 57% of patients considered  food-addicted also had higher results of depression, emotional disorders, eating disorders, and low self esteem. The YFAS scores are also used as significant predictors of binge eating, impulsive behavior, emotional reactions, and food cravings.

While there is still no definite answer as to whether food addiction is real, more and more studies are showing similarities between food and other abused substances. If an individual is concerned that they may have an addictive relationship with food, treatment is recommended to help identify and manage food triggers.

Break the Food Addiction at Penn Medicine

Learn about medical weight loss in Philadelphia, and the Penn Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery Program at a free information session about weight-loss surgery in Philadelphia.

There, you will hear about your weight-loss surgery options, and how Penn can help you lose weight and get healthy for good.

Register for a free information session today.