Food Addiction: Could It Explain Why 70 Percent of Americans Are Fat?

Mark Hyman, MDPracticing physician
Posted: October 16, 2010 09:04 AM


Our government and food industry both encourage more "personal responsibility" when it comes to battling the obesity epidemic and its associated diseases. They say people should exercise more self-control, make better choices, avoid overeating, and reduce their intake of sugar-sweetened drinks and processed food. We are led to believe that there is no good food or bad food, that it's all a matter of balance. This sounds good in theory, except for one thing...

New discoveries in science prove that industrially processed, sugar-, fat- and salt-laden food -- food that is made in a plant rather than grown on a plant, as Michael Pollan would say -- is biologically addictive.

Imagine a foot-high pile of broccoli, or a giant bowl of apple slices. Do you know anyone who would binge broccoli or apples? On other hand, imagine a mountain of potato chips or a whole bag of cookies, or a pint of ice cream. Those are easy to imagining vanishing in an unconscious, reptilian brain eating frenzy. Broccoli is not addictive, but cookies, chips, or soda absolutely can become addictive drugs.

The "just say no" approach to drug addiction hasn't fared to well, and it won't work for our industrial food addiction, either. Tell a cocaine or heroin addict or an alcoholic to "just say no" after that first snort, shot, or drink. It's not that simple. There are specific biological mechanisms that drive addictive behavior. Nobody chooses to be a heroin addict, cokehead, or drunk. Nobody chooses to be fat, either. The behaviors arise out of primitive neurochemical reward centers in the brain that override normal willpower and overwhelm our ordinary biological signals that control hunger.

Consider:

Why do cigarette smokers continue to smoke even though they know smoking will give them cancer and heart disease?
Why do less than 20 percent of alcoholics successfully quit drinking?
Why do most addicts continue to use cocaine and heroin despite their lives being destroyed?
Why does quitting caffeine lead to irritability and headaches?

It is because these substances are all biologically addictive.

Why is it so hard for obese people to lose weight despite the social stigma and health consequences such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and even cancer, even though they have an intense desire to lose weight? It is not because they want to be fat. It is because certain types of food are addictive.

Food made of sugar, fat, and salt can be addictive. Especially when combined in secret ways that the food industry will not share or make public. We are biologically wired to crave these foods and eat as much of them as possible. We all know about cravings, but what does the science tell us about food and addiction, and what are the legal and policy implications if a certain food is, in fact, addictive?

The Science and Nature of Food Addiction

Let's examine the research and the similarities between high-sugar, energy-dense, fatty and salty processed and junk food and cocaine, heroin, and nicotine. We'll start by reviewing the diagnostic criteria for substance dependence or addiction found in the bible of psychiatric diagnosis, the DSM-IV, and look at how that relates to food addiction:

Substance is taken in larger amount and for longer period than intended (a classic symptom in people who habitually overeat).

Persistent desire or repeated unsuccessful attempts to quit. (Consider the repeated attempts at diet so many overweight people go through.)

Much time/activity is spent to obtain, use, or recover. (Those repeated attempts to lose weight take time.)

Important social, occupational, or recreational activities given up or reduced. (I see this in many patients who are overweight or obese.)

Use continues despite knowledge of adverse consequences (e.g., failure to fulfill role obligation, use when physically hazardous). (Anyone who is sick and fat wants to lose weight, but without help few are capable of making the dietary changes that would lead to this outcome.)

Tolerance (marked increase in amount; marked decrease in effect). (In other words you have to keep eating more and more just to feel "normal" or not experience withdrawal.)

Characteristic withdrawal symptoms; substance taken to relieve withdrawal. (Many people undergo a "healing crisis" that has many of the same symptoms as withdrawal when removing certain foods from their diet.)


Continued at
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/food-addiction-could-it-e_b_764863.html

I have been wondering where to draw the line between "food" and "drugs" for years.
It is good to see that others agree that it is not always easy to draw such a line.

Foods change the way I feel.
I have cravings for foods.
etc. etc.

Food - the oldest drug! Followed by things like weed, LSA-containing seeds, mushrooms, peyote, opium poppies...

We are so fat b/c we have much less self control then people from other countries. We could really stand to learn a thing or two from other nations imho

^--But not all of us is like that. I grew up in a really unique environment, very poor nonetheless, but if there was something I learned, it was to appreciate everything that I have in this life and to never take anything for granted. But...I can't say the same thing about many others from here. I really can't imagine this place in 20 years...but anyway back to the article. I too have a problem with drawing the line between food and drugs, that is why I group them together and treat them the same. Back when I was 14 years old and in high school, my mom and step dad attempted the "Atkins" diet because it was the new crazy 10 years ago. They failed and me being both overweight and curious(I was an avid reader of bluelight 10 years ago when I was 13 , I decided to give it a try. lol I lasted two weeks and made it to phase 2 of the diet. I also lost 22 pounds But this is when I realized first-hand that foods are actually physically and psychologically addictive. I remember day 3 being hell..I'm talking about full-blown cold-sweats, body-tremors, and cravings for sugar. I made it through though and even though I was eating 3 fried eggs and 6 slices of bacon every morning, skipped lunch, and ate 2 grilled hamburger patties with 2 slices of wheat bread every night which gave me 14 net-carbs for TWO weeks, I lost 22 pounds. So...is it hypocritical for an overweight person to lecture a current drug abuser and vice-versa?

I definately feel that there's a compulsive aspect to fatty fast foods/junk food. I know when I eat pizza or a bag of chips I find myself continuing to grab another slice or another handful even when my stomach is quite full, almost subconsciously. It's an automatic reaction, like doing another line or taking another toke off the glass pipe, you have one and soon your mind is telling you 'hmm I want another.'

By contrast, I can eat a sandwich, feel full and that's the end of that.

I'm not saying food 'addiction' is on the same level as something like meth or opiate addiction, but there are definately comparisons that can be drawn between the two.

so by this method of reasoning all fat people are junkies?

squirrel_master said:

so by this method of reasoning all fat people are junkies?

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I wouldn't say the article goes that far, it's just drawing a comparison between the two activities.

labeling things as addiction is the negative thing, makes people feel helpless,
its all about self control,

Man, IDK wat this article is talkin about. I fuckin love apples. I ate almost 5 apples in a row yesterday. a big bowl of apple slices sounds like fuckin heaven to me, i could DEFINATELY binge out on apple slices. That shit is so delicious. I actually get cravings for fruit and i can honestly say word bond, that if you give me the choice between a slice of badass chocolate cake and a bowl of fresh cut pineapple, perfect ripe apples, etc, i would take the fruit nooo question. I know i aint the norm tho. but they talkin about how "nobody would binge out on broccoli or apples", shit, my moms will cook up a big pot of some shit like Broccoli rabe, spinach greens, etc, and sautee it with olive oil and garlic, and eat the FUCK out of it like she was goin to town on a plate of cheese fries or a steak or somethin.

I dont experience the effects they talkin about, about all this addictive food stuff, with all these processed non-food foods that are all full of crap like that. I do understand how the shit works...how biologically the shit in them is fucked up, it aint natural, and the way they process them causes these unnatural kinda reactions that makes people crave them and want to eat more and more than they should. I get it , for sure. I dont think the food is innocent. But im just sayin--if it was true that its just "food addiction" then it would be havin the same effect on everybody. and i know a sample group of one aint exactly proving a whole lot, Im just sayin. I dont get the 'addiction' feeling with food especially not the really bad processed shit that they talkin about in this article, and I know i aint the only person who is that way.

I dont think that you can simplify the whole problem into "food addiction." I DO believe that there is some pretty shitty shady things goin on with the food companies and the way that foods are modified and fucked with to have so little nutritonal value and so much bullshit, crap-ass products that aint even food in them....I defnately aint saying "its peoples fault--the food is perfectly healthy!" becuz these days so much of it aint even close to bein healthy, and the food that most people seem to eat, is disgusting.

I know its bad for you, I know that they identified patterns when people eat that is the same kinda reward-system trigger that they see when people use drugs, etc. Im just sayin there is still a whole lot of personal choice and attitudes involved in it. Sure, certain foods might have properties to em that can cause a person who is vulnerable to it, to overeat and binge out and in general just be unhealthy as hell with their eating habits...But it aint gonna just automatically have that affect on everybody who eats it. the person gotta be vulnerable to it in the first place before it will have that effect on them.

for me, once in a while I enjoy stuff like cake or chips or watever. it aint like i limit myself or dont let myself have it--its just that honestly, I aint really interested that much in eating them. It dont appeal to me all that much. In general i dont really eat that much junk food cuz it just dont do it for me. I dont get that reaction, it dont trigger that pleasure for me like the article is talking about. Which is why I say I dont think its stricly biological or physical. I think that you dont experience that kind of reaction to these foods unless you already got a relationship with them, thru the way you were raised, the kinda foods you ate growing up, your attitudes and mentality about food in general, etc. That shit is all about you, it aint your genetics, your biology...its attitudes, habits, and things that you have learned over time that make up how you see food and eating in general. Thats the shit thats truly responsible for 70 percent of americans bein overweight. not 'food addiction.'

The food aint got the power to addict people on its own. otherwise it would turn everybody into slobbering pigs just mindlessly shoving it down their throats uncontrollably til its gone. But it dont. It might have properties to it that hit the addictive switch in the brain...it might stimulate the same kind pf pleasure that doctors have seen in addicts brains when they use their drug of choice....but I believe, at least this is how i feel, that it takes a certain mentality and type of person who is already disposed to that kinda shit, for it to work that way. On someone like me, its like any other food, and aint got no special effects, dont cause nothing "addictive". but to the person who been eating that shit their whole life, whose attitudes and beliefs and mentality is all lined up to make them vulnerable to it, eating that high fat high sugar mega processed junkfood product will set off that "MORE!" reaction in their brain.

if it was powerful enough to cause that in everybody, if it just automatically did it on its own , and the person had no choice in it becuz its just addictive food, then everybody would be fat, not 70 percent. And everybody else in the world where they have these same foods would also be fat. but yet its only america with this obesity problem. It just goes to show you that no matter how much people search for excuses for obesity and the 'epidemic', etc, its still gonna come down to peoples lifestyles and attitudes and behavior towards food and americas shitty food culture in the end.

blaming it on food addiction, genes, biological causes, etc...its just excuses...i aint saying that obesity is just a choice, that its just the persons fault and they just suck at life, etc. I dont believe that. there is definately lots of things that affect it beyond a person just choosing to eat too much. Its a combination of shit. food CAN have addicting properties to it, it CAN cause those kinda chain reactions that makes a person just wanna keep eating, but those reactions dont happen in a brain that got healthy attitudes towards food, healthy eating habits, etc. Thats all. Just like it aint fair to say "obesity is caused by lazy people with no willpower who are just too lazy to control the shit they eat and they are fat becuz they want to be", its also just as inaccurate to say that its causd by 'food addiction" or any of these other reasons that try to take away all the responsibility of the person and blame it on something out of their control. If that was true we would all be fat and nobody would ever be able to lose weight.

i've been underweight all my life

Sure, good tasting food will tempt you to have more. Not news.


The problem isn't that the food is addicting, it's that people aren't informed about what they're eating. And I'm not talking about companies sneaking shit in or not being honest. I'm talking about the difference between good and bad calories, proper nutrition, the avoidance of shit like hfcs, preservatives, proper amounts of macronutrients, etc.

How many people here who've gone to public school, hell, even private school, have had classes on nutrition? And I'm not talking about a week or so of gym/health class dedicated to the topic. I bet not many, at least I sure as hell didn't and I went to public school in a top 5 largest city in the nation.

Get the education out early. Start it in elementary school, and continue it through high school. There's plenty of subjects this could replace, and it's without a doubt a very important issue. Oh, and while they're at it, get rid of the crap they pass off as lunch in many schools.


I'm not saying it's all willpower, but knowing what you're eating and making good decisions about your diet will go a long way.

Food withdrawals can kill, too!

footscrazy said:

Food withdrawals can kill, too!

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I cooked a massive Sunday Roast this weekend - and have been going Cold Turkey all week since... I find cranberry jelly helps.

anarchogen said:

i've been underweight all my life

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same here, and i eat more than most people twice my size. i guess i have a leaky hole in my gut

phrozen said:

Sure, good tasting food will tempt you to have more. Not news.


The problem isn't that the food is addicting, it's that people aren't informed about what they're eating. And I'm not talking about companies sneaking shit in or not being honest. I'm talking about the difference between good and bad calories, proper nutrition, the avoidance of shit like hfcs, preservatives, proper amounts of macronutrients, etc.

How many people here who've gone to public school, hell, even private school, have had classes on nutrition? And I'm not talking about a week or so of gym/health class dedicated to the topic. I bet not many, at least I sure as hell didn't and I went to public school in a top 5 largest city in the nation.

Get the education out early. Start it in elementary school, and continue it through high school. There's plenty of subjects this could replace, and it's without a doubt a very important issue. Oh, and while they're at it, get rid of the crap they pass off as lunch in many schools.


I'm not saying it's all willpower, but knowing what you're eating and making good decisions about your diet will go a long way.

Click to expand...

A lot of it's a lack of exercise due to the culture & urban sprawl. Go anywhere else in the world & you see people walking everywhere. While here, unless you live in NYC, you probably have a car and don't walk more than a few hundred ft a day

Kill every addict

what a fucking joke.
heroin/cocaine are fucking euphoriants, some of the strongest known to man
oh, youre addicted to heroin and you stop? you feel horrible for (days? weeks? i dont know but you get the point)
oh, youre addicted to cocaine/stims and you stop?
you'll crave hardcore and feel depressed and all that shit, your brain isnt working normally and itll take time to replenish itself, if it ever would/brain damage
fucking cracker please, comparing fucking food "addiction" to fucking DRUG addiction is a load of fucking shit.
when the fuck were people sucking dicks for cheeseburgers? why the fuck does nowhere else in the world have this horrible "food addiction epidemic" then.
whoever wrote this should fuck off, theres a big fuckin difference between a few units of dopamine released from eatnig and the massive increase in dopamine when you do cocaine/stims/(opiates?)
i thought methamphetamine puts out 100 or 1000x more dopamine than food or sex could possibly release in the brain.
get a fucking clue, there arent fatass people stealing/robbing what have you for a fucking piece of food.
ignorant motherfucker.

LSDMDMA&8905075 said:

when the fuck were people sucking dicks for cheeseburgers?

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There are many, many dirt poor people in the world who don't have much food at all.
Some of them prostitute themselves for food.


I appreciate your argument that quitting certain (but not all) drugs is more intense than quitting foods, but I think that it is a difference of degree, not of kind.

LSDMDMA&8905075 said:

, there arent fatass people stealing/robbing what have you for a fucking piece of food

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that is at least partly because fatty, salty food is the cheapest food.

phrozen said:

Sure, good tasting food will tempt you to have more. Not news.


The problem isn't that the food is addicting, it's that people aren't informed about what they're eating. And I'm not talking about companies sneaking shit in or not being honest. I'm talking about the difference between good and bad calories, proper nutrition, the avoidance of shit like hfcs, preservatives, proper amounts of macronutrients, etc.

How many people here who've gone to public school, hell, even private school, have had classes on nutrition? And I'm not talking about a week or so of gym/health class dedicated to the topic. I bet not many, at least I sure as hell didn't and I went to public school in a top 5 largest city in the nation.

Get the education out early. Start it in elementary school, and continue it through high school. There's plenty of subjects this could replace, and it's without a doubt a very important issue. Oh, and while they're at it, get rid of the crap they pass off as lunch in many schools.


I'm not saying it's all willpower, but knowing what you're eating and making good decisions about your diet will go a long way.

Click to expand...

I definatly agree, the food isnt the problem its the people using it, just like drugs dont pick and choose whos gonna become addicted, alot of factors play into somes likeliness of becoming addicted to something that makes your feel good