Can You Be Addicted to Food?

Clearly, food is something that most people really cannot go without. For some, it is the casual craving for carbohydrate-rich food after a long, frustrating day, while others just enjoy Schnitzel too much. But in recent years, a growing controversy has developed from the question of whether there is a darker, more sinister side to the pleasure of eating. As an old Jewish proverb has it, "worries go down better with soup". But can drowning your sorrows in soup become a problem someday?

The concept of “food addiction” has been around for significantly longer than current debates may make you believe (nearly 60 years, to be precise) [1]. Conceptually, its location on the etiological food chain ranks it somewhere between substance (e.g. alcohol) and behavioral addictions (e.g. gambling). One reason why food addiction offers such an intuitive appeal is its seamless correlation with the global rise in obesity levels. Additionally, it offers a psychological remedy (a sugar-coating, if you excuse the pun) that relieves the consumer from the responsibility to choose: who could be blamed for overeating if all those companies sell food that has been carefully developed to maximize palatability and reward? However, the story may not be that straightforward.

Source: Bay Hippisley

As always when in doubt, a look at animal models proves instructive. And indeed, there is a plethora of studies indicating that animals often fall prey to developing addiction-like behavioral phenotypes when offered access to food. However, not all foods are created equal. More specifically, it has been shown that highly palatable foodstuff (so, the goodies that you should be careful with... you know, the ones with health warnings on them) including a high proportion of processed sugar, fat or salt, are especially attractive.

While it is generally appreciated that eating highly toothsome food activates reward areas and neurochemical paths that are notorious for their implication in addiction, it has remained significantly less clear whether this follows the act of eating per se, or depends on food content (i.e. certain ingredients). For instance, while there is evidence to suggest that lab rodents may show withdrawal-like symptoms when going cold turkey on sugar [2], such behaviors have generally not been described in humans (except in a single case study) [3]. For fat and salt, results have even been less clear.

Fast food is equivalent to pornography

Besides, there are some semantic problems that the term “food addiction” has difficulties digesting. Essentially, while no one debates the existence of problematic eating behavior, for instance, during binge eating attacks, the concept of addiction implies that there is something in the food that gets people hooked. However, humans who overeat tend not to be picky about a particular nutrient, but rather binge on a wide range of available toothsome foodstuff. And normally, there is very little evidence to suggest that humans ingest specific food to satisfy their craving for specific ingredients, like sugar or fat, or that these chemicals are consumed in isolation [4].

Eating addiction may be more appropriate than food addiction

From this perspective, ”addictive eating behavior” may be a better term. What is more, at this point, it has become challenging to tell apart people with increased appetite/reduced satiety from people with real “eating addiction” [4]. Overeating may, therefore, be something that is the consequence of high and readily availability of food paired with a certain vulnerability, such as negative effect, emotion dysregulation, and stress susceptibility [5]. To satisfy criteria for an addiction, rather than a maladaptive, potentially harmful behavior per se, science still has to carry forward the necessary proof. In any case, medicalizing such behavior may have its benefits, as has been the case for smoking, which today receives undivided medical/therapeutic attention. 

And while “food addicts” have been able to exchange their experiences among peers in Food Addicts Anonymous since 1987, they might have been the victims of a simple misnomer. For all those in doubt, better try the quiz at http://www.foodaddicts.org/am-i-a-food-addict.


[1] Randolph, Q J Stud Alcohol, 1956
[2] Colantuoni et al, Obes Res, 2002
[3] Thornley and McRobbie, N Z Med J, 2009
[4] Hebebrand et al, Neurosci Biobehav Rev, 2014
[5] Gearhardt et al, J Law Med Ethics, 2013

By Helge Hasselmann, PhD Student AG Otte

This article originally appeared September 2015 in Volume 08 Issue 02 "Food for Thought"