Can’t resist overeating? You could be suffering from eating addiction

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If overeating is simply irresistible thing for you, despite being aware about its various obvious health risks, you may be suffering from eating addiction, a behavioural disorder that could be categorised alongside conditions such as gambling, says a new study that appeared in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. The psychological compulsion to eat is driven by positive feelings that the brain associates with eating, but it is not as bad as drug addiction.

‘The brain does not respond to nutrients in the same way as it does to addictive drugs such as heroin or cocaine,’ the researchers said. People can become addicted to eating for its own sake, not to consume specific foods such as those high in sugar or fat. ‘So the focus on tackling the problem of obesity should be moved from food itself and towards the individual’s relationship with eating,’ the researchers said.

‘More avenues for treatment may open up if we think about this condition as a behavioural addiction rather than a substance-based addiction,’ said John Menzies from the University of Edinburgh in Britain.

For the study, the researchers examined the scientific evidence for food addiction as a substance-based addiction.

‘There has been a major debate over whether sugar is addictive,’ said professor Suzanne Dickson from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. ‘There is currently very little evidence to support the idea that any ingredient, food item, additive or combination of ingredients has addictive properties,’ Dickson added.

What is food addiction?

Food addiction is a biochemical condition similar to drug or alcohol addiction which creates a psychological craving for specific foods, i.e. a person loses control over what and the amount of food he/she eats. There is an uncontrollable craving for eating a particular food and typically involves junk foods which are high in salt, sugar or fats. Food addiction was first recognised in early 1990s.

Like addictive drugs, food triggers feel-good chemicals (such as dopamine) in food addicts. The person feels the need to eat the food he is addicted to, quickly. The reward signals or the feel-good factor may override the signals of satiety and a person may end up eating food even when he is full or not hungry, resulting in over-eating. Read more about Are you a food addict? Find out with these symptoms

With inputs from IANS

Photo source: Getty images

 

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Can’t resist overeating? You could be suffering from eating addiction