Tag Archives: food addiction

Food addiction and the brain

May 16, 2014

Food addiction and the brain-From your brain’s perspective food is a drug

Food

some foods are associated with brain problem, and drug addiction is even more dangerous, eat healthy foods

Making reference from the holy book, God created all things that in his wisdom would make humanity comfortable before even thinking of creating man in his likeness. Among the things created to keep man comfortable is food. From creation man has made a lot of modification on what they feed on making me to believe that it was God’s will that we feed on freshness of his freely provided food be it food derived from vegetation or from animals. What we call improvement is in my view the problem why today we can imagine food as being addictive and this is going to form the basis of our discussion in this article. Therefore to start you off the foods we feed on often affect how our neurons behave and subsequently how we think and feel. From this description in your brain’s perspective, food is a drug.

Food addiction and the brain-Carbon bound consumers

We are generally feed on carbon most of the time. Carbon gets into our system through our feeding tubes in the form of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins, we then break those chemical bonds to extract energy, and excrete the residue as carbon dioxide, water vapor and various solid waste. However, occasionally some of these chemicals can make their way from your digestive system and into your brain and the consequences can be subtle or profound.

Ascertaining the distinction between what is considered a food (something that your body wants or needs in order to function optimally) or a drug (something that your brain wants or needs in order to function optimally) is becoming increasingly difficult to define. Indeed, the routine use of some substances, such as stimulants and depressants, is so universal that most of us do not even consider them to be drugs, but, rather, actual food. For instance is coffee, tea, tobacco, alcohol, cocoa, or marijuana a nutrient or a drug?

The truth is that anything you take into your body should be considered a drug, whether it’s obviously nutritious or not (of cause we are now talking on the improvement we have done on what God had intended for our consumption before we introduced technology on food). As you will see, even molecules that are clearly nutritious (such as essential amino acids like lysine and tryptophan—available in bulk at your nearest grocery store) exhibit properties that many of us would attribute to drugs.

The foods we eat, and many of our most popular psychoactive drugs, come from plants or animals. The ingredients in these plant and animal products are very similar if not identical to the neurotransmitters our brains and bodies use to function normally. This is why the contents of our diets can interact with our neurons to influence brain function, and it highlights a very important principle that chemicals in the food that you eat will only act upon your brain if in some way those chemicals resemble an actual neurotransmitter or otherwise interact with a biochemical process in your brain that influences the production, release, or inactivation of a neurotransmitter. These active ingredients should be closely scrutinized for assurance of good health.

Food addiction and the brain-Chemicals used by humans and plants

You may be wondering how plants and humans use such similar chemicals for normal everyday functions! Plants produce chemicals capable of affecting our brain because they share an evolutionary history with us and primitive one-celled organisms produce many of the same chemicals that are in our brains. Therefore, irrespective of what you choose to eat the chemicals each meal contains may alter how your neurons function and by extension how you feel or think. We have all experienced the consequences of our shared evolutionary history with the plants we eat. For example, unripe bananas contain the neurotransmitter serotonin. When you eat an unripe banana, its serotonin is free to act upon the serotonin neurons within your digestive tract. The result is likely to increase activation of the muscles in the wall of your intestines.

Many plants contain compounds that should be able to enhance your brain’s performance. For example, potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplants contain solanine and α-chaconine substances that can enhance the action of acetylcholine, a chemical in your brain that is vital to memory formation. Your mood might be enhanced slightly by eating fava beans because they contain L-DOPA, a precursor to the production of dopamine, the reward chemical in your brain. Whether these food-borne compounds actually affect your brain depends on the quantity eaten and your own personal physiology.

Food addiction and the brain-Morphine chemicals

Morphine like chemicals are capable of acting upon the brain are produced in your intestines when you consume milk, eggs, cheese, spinach, mushrooms, pumpkin, and various fish and grains. Dairy products in particular contain a protein known as casein, which enzymes in your intestines can convert into beta-casomorphin. In newborns, that beta-casomorphin can easily pass out of the immature gut and into the developing brain to produce euphoria. The pleasurable feeling produced by this opiate-like compound in newborn mammals after their first taste of their mother’s milk is believed to encourage the infant to return again and again for nourishment. Thus, being able to experience the euphoria induced by this opiate-like chemical has life and death consequences for the newborn child.

Food addiction and the brain-Caffeine and Nicotine

These are definitely plants derived from drugs. Chocolate contains a bit of caffeine, but also an array of other psychoactive compounds that may contribute to the pleasurable sensation of eating it. Chocolate contains phenethylamine a molecule that resembles amphetamine, and a small amount of a chemical called anandamide, which resembles the active ingredient in marijuana. Anandamide happens to be used by our brain as a regular neurotransmitter and appears to be critical for us to experience pleasure.

Chocolate also contains some estrogen-like compounds, a fact that may explain a recent series of reports showing that men who eat chocolate live longer than men who do not eat chocolate. The effect was not seen for women, who have an ample supply of their own estrogen until menopause. Post-menopausal women still may gain benefits from being chocoholics, though, because chocolate also contains magnesium salts that may reduce the frequency and severity of hot flashes and night sweating. And finally, a standard bar of chocolate contains as many antioxidants as a glass of red wine. Clearly, there are many good reasons for men and women to eat chocolate to obtain its indescribably soothing, mellow, and anxiety-reducing effect.

Finally having seen the effect of food to human life, as a society we must pool together to ensure that we live a happy life therefore the services of professionals will be necessary to give guidance. At AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under Doctor Akoury’s care, you will be well taken care of. Doctor Akoury is an expert with more than two decades of experience and when you are addicted in any way she will focus on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE , this is the place to be.

Food addiction and the brain-From your brain’s perspective food is a drug

 

 

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Food that inspire food addiction

April 9, 2014

Food that inspire food addiction-They cause physical and emotional dependencies

Food

mind much a bout the kind of food you eat, you may be feeding on food that cause addiction

In many cases overweight people are often seen or believed to be either lazy or just don’t have the will power to actively operate normally. The choice of food you eat, when you eat and frequencies of exercise you do affect your weight significantly. The previously ignored element may be food addiction; this does not necessarily mean that we are desperate for a candy bar. By the way some of the food that causes addiction are:

  • Chocolate
  • Sugar
  • Cheese
  • Milk
  • Meat

Food that inspire food addiction-Chocolate

Experts have found out that chocolate stimulates the same part of the brain that opiate drugs do, that is to say chocolate acts like a drug producing food addiction which causes us to crave for more and more of it.

Before we know, we are on the road to being addicted to chocolate. Emphasis should be made to the public that food addiction is not a laughing matter. Chocolate as food contains other stimulant drugs like caffeine, theobromine and pheylethylamine, according to expert’s chocolate is not just a drug but a whole drug store wrapped up in one.

Food that inspire food addiction-Cheese

But chocolate’s not the only food addiction studies have established that when people who were consuming meat and other dairy products are stopped from consuming the same, the yearning for cheese was described as a “deep seated craving” that stayed with them much longer than their compulsion for other foods. Researchers also found a chemical in cow’s milk similar to morphine, and after testing it repeatedly, they discovered that it was, in fact, morphine. It was only a trace amount, and not all the samples contained the chemical in recognizable levels, but there was indeed a small amount of morphine in cow’s milk.

Assuming that the morphine must have come from the cows’ diets, they were shocked to find that the cows actually made traces of it within their bodies, along with codeine and other opiates that were produced in their livers. They were also surprised to learn that cow’s milk (and the milk of any species) contains the protein, casein that breaks down during the digestion process, and releases other opiate-like compounds called casomorphins. What does this have to with cheese? Casein is concentrated in cheese. So we have the makings of another possible food addiction.

Food that inspire food addiction-Milk

Why are there traces of morphine in milk? (Actually, it’s not some environmental problem.) Scientists believe that the mother’s milk has a relaxing effect on the baby, and this drug-like effect on the brain is responsible for the bonding that is necessary, for the baby to get the nutrition he needs. Researchers gave volunteers yogurt and skim milk, and found that the casein (milk opiates) not only acted within the digestive tract, but some of the fragments actually entered the bloodstream, with direct access to the brain. The effect was greatest about 40 minutes after eating. As mentioned before, cheese has more casein than other dairy products. (Recent studies have found that meat also stimulates the brain’s pleasure centers.) To further prove their theory, researchers found that when volunteers were given naloxone, (a drug that blocks opiates, used in the treatment of heroin and morphine overdoses), their desire for cheese, meat, chocolate, and other addictive foods was greatly decreased.

Food that inspire food addiction-Sugar

In addition, scientists have discovered that fast foods, like hamburgers and fries, may also be responsible for food addictions. The high fat and carbohydrate content causes changes in the brain that are normally correlated with drug addiction, (and the result is food addiction.) Sugar and fat stimulates the release of natural opiates in the brain, and may be triggering the same response as heroin. After giving rats a diet that was one quarter sugar, he abruptly withdrew the sugar, and the rats went into high anxiety mode, experiencing trembling and teeth chattering, similar to the effects that occur during morphine or nicotine withdrawal. So, in review, the sugar produced the same withdrawal effects that highly addictive drugs do.

Food addiction plays an enormous role in our eating habits, when we’re depressed, tired, lonely, anxious, worried, fearful, etc. We run to the addictive food of choice. For me many people, it is chocolate and sugar, with carbohydrates following close behind, which is particularly bad and that explains why diabetic is rising. Certain foods act as drugs, because our body responds to the natural opiates in them, just as it would to drug opiates. As we experience these effects over and over, we may develop a food addiction.

Medical scans have even been able to document these findings about food addiction. Researchers compared the brain scans of drug addicts with chronic over-eaters, and found startling similarities. If you think about it, many of the behaviors are the same–the obsession, compulsion, and preoccupation with drugs, is often also experienced with food. The overwhelming guilt, the tendency to use drugs to relieve emotional problems, and even the secrecy that is often involved in drug use, is also a part of compulsive overeating. While none of the researchers are suggesting that the physical and emotional drive is as strong with food, as it is with heroin, what they have found is that some of the previously mentioned food addictions are a part of the overall problem of obesity or overeating. Food addiction is real, according to scientific research.

So how do we kick the habit of food addiction? Interesting unlike coming off of drugs, we can’t just stop eating. Nutritionist suggests starting your day with a good breakfast that will help you keep food cravings at a minimum. Try to keep blood sugar levels normal by staying away from white sugar, white flour, white bread, and other starchy foods such as white potatoes, rice, and pasta. Instead substitute low-fat protein, vegetables, beans, low-sugar fruits, and whole grains. Eat enough healthy foods to satisfy your hunger, and don’t go on starvation diets. You’ll just end up binging sooner or later, because your body feels so deprived.

Take a break from some of the more addictive foods, and you will soon experience less of a craving for them. Food addictions are just one component of overeating, and obesity. There are often metabolic issues, genetic variables, and complex physical and emotional reasons why we overeat. But learning about the addictive nature of some foods, can enable us to understand the powerful cravings that we sometimes experience, and help us on our path to healthy food choices.

Food that inspire food addiction-They cause physical and emotional dependencies

 

 

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Nutrients and addiction recovery is Vital

March 21, 2014

Food Nutrients and addiction recovery-Natural way

Food

Food Nutrients offers the best natural way for addiction recovery

The life style of the society today is surrounded with different kinds of food which are either beneficial to the body or otherwise. Whereas food is need for the growth of the body some of these are addictive hence the term addiction. It encompasses almost all imbalanced and self-destructive behavior. Substance abuse can create an illusory sense of well-being, but in the end it severely damages physical, psychological, and spiritual health.

There are many degrees of addiction. Some people are mildly addicted to one or two cups of coffee or a few teaspoons of sugar. Others consume two to three quarts of caffeine drinks with more significant amounts of sugar. Then, at the other end of the spectrum, are addicts drinking pints of alcohol daily, shooting heroin, and doing large amounts of other “hard” drugs. This leads us to history.

It has been shown that individuals with substance addictions may very likely be suffering from an assortment of one or more metabolic disorders such as hypoglycemia, hypoadrenia and depression. Serious maladaptive patterns, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, hypoglycemia, and candida albicans, have always been common among drug addicts and alcoholics.

Because of this continual nutritional support is instrumental in gaining real and lasting recovery from addiction. It is not uncommon for those who remain drug or alcohol-free to simply substitute their chosen substance with excessive use of another addictive substance, such as sugar, caffeine, or nicotine. This behavior is often indicative of some metabolic disorder that the individual is trying to self-correct.

Food Nutrients and addiction recovery is a reality, check it out!

It is a good idea when beginning a nutritional program to include a clean diet: lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, plenty of vegetables and fruits, low fat, and little or no refined sugars. Here are some nutrients that address common problems from which many recovering addicts may suffer:

Food Nutrients and addiction recovery-Detoxifying and strengthening the liver and digestive tract

  • Vitamin C. Vitamin C is considered to be one of the primary nutrients useful in the treatment of addiction. It helps to eliminate toxins from the body as well as lessen withdrawal symptoms. In 1977 and 1982 Libby and Stone reported that large doses of ascorbic acid combined with B vitamins and protein allowed heroin addicts to quit with minimal withdrawal symptoms. A dose of 10 grams daily prevented cravings from returning. The preferred form of C is buffered with calcium and magnesium or ester C.

    Food Nutrients and addiction recovery means stock up on healthy minerals:

  • Selenium. This important antioxidant plays a role in the body’s utilization of oxygen. Studies have shown that mice live longer without oxygen if they have been previously supplemented with selenium. Alcoholics, as well as patients with candidiasis, chronic fatigue syndrome, and ARC, have all shown low levels of selenium. In addition, heart disease and cancer are higher in people with diminished selenium levels. Selenium also has a role in detoxifying poisonous phenols, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, hydrocarbons, and chlorine. Many people with allergic reactions to these substances have found relief through the use of selenium. However, selenium can be toxic in large amounts. A safe therapeutic dose is about 100 mcg daily. Green leafy vegetables and several herbs, such as American and Siberian Ginseng, have bio-available forms of selenium.
  • Zinc. The mineral zinc plays an important role in carbohydrate metabolism. If one uses excessive amounts of sugar, caffeine, drugs, or alcohol it is more than likely that a zinc deficiency will develop. Low zinc levels can cause liver deterioration and diminished functioning of the reproductive organs, immune system, and skin. Zinc picolinate is probably the most bio-available form, with a safe therapeutic dose between 15 – 20 mg, once or twice daily.

Food Nutrients and addiction recovery-Relaxing and strengthening the nervous system

  • Calcium. Calcium is one of the most important nutrients for strengthening the nervous system. Caffeine, sugar, alcohol, and other drugs often cause the body to eliminate calcium. Caffeine, for example, has been shown to double the urinary excretion of calcium. Several studies have demonstrated low serum calcium levels in alcoholics. Depressed calcium and magnesium levels are often the root of irritability, muscular spasm, and pain experienced by alcoholics and drug addicts. A recovering addict should consider 1000 mg of elemental calcium per day in divided doses, preferably at the beginning of meals.
  • Magnesium. Magnesium and calcium are partners in keeping the nervous system strong and healthy. Most abused substances contribute to diminished magnesium levels in the blood. A recovering addict should consider taking 500-1000 mg of elemental magnesium daily in divided doses, preferably at the beginning of meals.
  • DL-Phenylalanine (DLPA). DLPA is composed of two amino acids, D-Phenylalanine and L-Phenylalanine. It is the raw material that the nervous system uses to make PEA (Phenylethylamine) which increases the body’s ability to utilize endorphins.

Food Nutrients and addiction recovery-Nutrients associated with enhancing energy

  • B Complex. The B vitamins are usually seriously deficient in people who use excessive amounts of sugar, caffeine, alcohol, or other drugs. It is not even uncommon for these people to have B complex deficiencies prior to establishing their addiction. As a result, it is believed by some that part of the physiological draw to addictive substances has to do with B vitamin deficiencies. A supplement with 25 to 50 mg of the basic B vitamins is usually sufficient, taken one to three times daily.
  • Potassium. A low level of potassium is one of the most common nutritional deficiencies found today. Excessive use of salt, caffeine, alcohol, and sugar, as well as an unbalanced diet, all tend to lower your level of potassium. Even commonly used pharmaceutical drugs such as cortisone and prednisone can create low levels of this important electrolyte. Decreased potassium levels are associated with depression, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Perhaps the best source of potassium can be found in fresh fruits such as oranges and bananas, and in vegetables such as leafy greens and potatoes. Numerous herbal extracts, including Nettle and Alfalfa, can provide bio-available forms of potassium.

Food Nutrients and addiction recovery-Herbs that detoxify the liver and digestive tract

  • Milk Thistle. Milk Thistle has displayed remarkable healing properties for the liver. European research has shown that it is effective in treating cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis, and alcohol induced fatty liver. Milk Thistle extract actually has hepato-protective properties; it protects the liver cells from damage by environmental and internal toxins. This herb can be used as a liquid extract, tablet, or capsule in most cases. However, the more serious recovery case should consider the standardized extract. Milk Thistle use is a proof that Food Nutrients and addiction recovery go hand in hand.
  • Goldenseal. The American herb Goldenseal is a superior liver and blood detoxifier. A natural antibiotic, it is known to help reverse liver damage and effectively treat a variety of infections. It is not a good idea to take this herb by itself in large amounts for an extended period of time.
  • Dandelion. It’s known throughout Europe as an excellent liver detoxifier and mild diuretic. It increases the flow of bile and encourages both the transformation and transportation of nutrients. It has been used historically to treat liver disorders, arthritis and gout.

Food Nutrients and addiction recovery-Herbs relaxing and strengthening the nervous system

  • Scullcap. It’s a broad spectrum nervine tonic. This herb has been used successfully in cases of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and headaches. Scullcap is considered one of the preferred herbs to help ease withdrawal symptoms during recovery. During the first 72 hours of withdrawal, it may be taken every couple of hours. Scullcap contains large amounts of flavonoids which act as natural anti-inflammatory agents.
  • Valerian. This is another strong nervine. Extracts of Valerian have been used for centuries in Europe to resolve cases of insomnia, nervous disorders, anxiety, and depression. It is known to be beneficial for individuals who have a history of cocaine and/or alcohol use and also suffer from nervous disorders.
  • Passion Flower. Passion Flower is another great nervine. Milder than Valerian, it is excellent for relieving tension and for insomnia. Rich in flavonoids, Passion Flower is probably most effective when combined with Valerian and other nervines.

As you can see there are many nutrients and herbs which can assist the recovering addict. It is important to consider carefully which ones are appropriate for any given individual.  At AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under Doctor Akoury’s  you will be given the most you can ever ask for while focusing on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE.

Food Nutrients and addiction recovery-Natural way

 

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Obesity and emerging neurobiology addiction

March 12, 2014

Obesity and emerging neurobiology addiction-Food addiction

Obesity

Emerging neurobiology addiction offers healthy ground for obesity take a walk swim your weight away at the beaches.

It’s believed that the increased availability and consumption of highly palatable foods is the major factor behind the rise of obesity in developed countries. Many of these highly palatable foods are sweet tasting and appealing foods that contain high levels of the natural sugar sucrose. There are alternatives to sucrose the artificial sweetener sucralose is 600 times sweeter and does not contain calories but the obesity epidemic continues because the society prefers sucrose to sucralose.

Progress has been made in recent years in understanding the neurobiological underpinnings for this preference, sucrose activates dopamine neurons in a section of the brain called the striatum, and the resulting release of dopamine is associated with pleasure. Sucralose, on the other hand, does not have this effect. Moreover, the repeated consumption of high levels of sucrose can create a cycle of continued overconsumption even compulsive eating in order to recapture the initial feelings of pleasure. This is similar in many ways to drug abuse or addiction, and also involves some of the same signaling pathways within the body.

Obesity and emerging neurobiology addiction-Optogenic techniques

Researches used optogenetic techniques to show that activating dopamine neurons in the brain encouraged mice to eat in the absence of a sweet taste. The mice preferred water to sugar if their dopamine neurons were activated at the same time that they were offered the water.

A team of researchers reports that the release of dopamine is driven by melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) neurons in the lateral hypothalamus of the brain. The experiments relied on transgenic mice in which the MCH neurons could be activated with a carefully directed light stimulus, and showed that mice preferred sucralose to sucrose when their MCH neurons had been activated. This finding was confirmed with mutant mice that lacked the cellular machinery required to recognize sweet tastes; these mice still preferred sucrose over sucralose because of its caloric content.

Researchers then engineered mice that did not have any MCH neurons at all. The fact that these mice preferred sucralose to sucrose supports a model in which MCH neurons appear to function as both a sucrose sensor and a nutrient sensor. Taken together, the results demonstrate that preference for sucrose is dependent on at least three factors: its ability to activate MCH neurons; its sweet taste as detected by the taste buds; and, as previously reported, the metabolic state of the organism. Consistent with these findings, they propose a model in which MCH neurons act as a key component of the neuronal networks that lead to the release of dopamine in response to the detection of sucrose.

Obesity and emerging neurobiology addiction-Different responses of sucrose and sucralose

A researcher showed that sucrose activates melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) neurons in the lateral hypothalamus (LH), which leads to the release of dopamine (DA) in the striatum: pathway shown in red. In contrast, sucralose can only induce the release of dopamine if optogenetic techniques are used to activate the MCH neurons; pathway shown in green. However, it is almost certain that various other neuronal pathways (shown by black dashed lines) are involved; these might include orexin/hypocretin (OX) neurons in the lateral hypothalamus, or other neurons elsewhere in the brain.

While this latest work shows that sucrose preference is based on its nutritive value, the actual molecular mechanisms via which it affects MCH neurons remains unknown. According to one report, since sucrose contains glucose, it could modulate the excitability of MCH neurons via potassium channels that are gated by ATP.

Experts now suggest that the activation of the MCH neurons by sucrose might be mediated indirectly by afferent nerve fibers originating from taste sensors in the taste buds and/or the gastrointestinal tract. The receptors that respond to sweet tastes also respond to the nutritional content of the food and help determine which neuropeptides should be released by taste buds Moreover, sucrose, unlike sucralose, is known to act on taste receptors in the gastrointestinal tract): this modulates the release of hormones which serve to inform the brain about the availability of calories in the body)

Taken together, these data suggest that taste receptors in both the gustatory system (the part of the sensory system that responds to taste) and the gastrointestinal system may respond to natural sugars in one way and to artificial sugars in a different way.

An outstanding challenge is to find out how MCH neurons activate dopamine neurons in the striatum. One possibility is that the orexin/hypocretin neurons in the hypothalamus have a role. Since these neurons are involved in the regulation of the desire for sugar, and they are also known to interact with MCH neurons, they might work together with MCH neurons to trigger reward.

The work of researchers represents a significant advance in our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying how mammals respond to some kinds of foods. We now understand better why we have an innate desire for sweet foods, which are highly caloric and might have been, in the past, advantageous from an evolutionary perspective. Yet in the modern world, where highly caloric food is readily available, how do we resist this drive so as to avoid the many problems that are associated with obesity?

Interestingly, it appears that the increased use of non-caloric sugar substitutes as a mechanism to prevent weight gain or enhance weight loss has come at a cost. Recent studies show that prolonged consumption of sucralose and other high-intensity sweeteners can have potentially harmful effects on energy metabolism. On the other hand, it has been reported that non-caloric sugar substitutes do little to reduce feelings of hunger.

Noting the struggle of addiction, we need to consider using new methods of treatment that will not be addictive in anyway. For the most effective Addiction Recovery is not healthy to keep using the chemical medicine, but instead to use a Natural addiction treatment to rid the victim from drug addiction.  Experience a revolutionary nutritionally assisted detox program with Doctor Dalal Akoury at AWEREmed health and wellness resource centre. Here we focus on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE.

Obesity and emerging neurobiology addiction-Food addiction

 

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Food addiction

February 26, 2014

Food addiction-Fighting food addiction

food addiction

food especially sugar is becoming the biggest luring substance to food addiction

There is one common addiction for all mankind, we are all in one way or the other addicted to food. Visualize how it feels like when you aren’t able to eat. You will probably start to crave for food, and become more physically and emotionally uncomfortable. The longer the cravings go on for, until eating becomes the most important thing for you to do. This is the constant experience of people struggling with food addiction, even if they have plenty to eat.

However food is essential to survival, and unlike other addictive behaviors, it is normal to eat repeatedly every day, and to look forward to eating for pleasure. But several characteristics separate normal or occasional binge eating from a food addiction.

The first point, food addiction is maladaptive, so although people overeat to feel better, it often ends up making them feel worse, and gives those more to feel back about. Food addiction can threaten health, causing obesity, malnutrition, and other problems.

The second point, the overeating that people with food addiction do is persistent, so a person addicted to food eats too much food and most of the time it’s the wrong kinds of food taken repeatedly. Everybody overeat from time to time, but people with food addiction often overeat daily, and they eat not because they are hungry, but as their main way of coping with stress.

The Controversy of Food Addiction

As behavioral addictions, the concept of food addiction is a controversial one. Opinions differs between those who think that overeating can be a type of addiction, and those who think that true addictions are limited to psychoactive substances which produces symptoms such as physical and withdrawal. Although this has been demonstrated in research with sugar and fat (the two most common obesity-causing constituents of food), and other studies show that food produces opiates in the body, many think that this does not necessarily constitute an addiction.

However, the growing epidemic of obesity over the past years has raised public health concern. In almost all US states, one in five adults are obese. Childhood obesity was ranked as the top health concern for children in 2008, higher than either drug abuse, rated second, or smoking rated third, both of which were ahead of obesity in 2007.

This concern, along with effective treatments for addictions, which are being successfully applied to more and more problematic behaviors, is contributing to a movement towards understanding over-eating, and the consequences of obesity and related health problems, in terms of addiction.

Food addiction is now included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), named as Binge Eating Disorder, and categorized with the Eating Disorders. Excessive eating is also a characteristic of another eating disorders outlined in the DSM, known as Bulimia Nervosa. Some controversy remains over whether eating disorders are actually addictions, but many experts believe that they are.

Food Addiction like Other Addictions

There are several similarities between food addiction and drug addiction, including effects on mood, external cues to eat or use drugs, expectancies, restraint, ambivalence, and attribution.

Neurotransmitters and the brain’s reward system have been implicated in food and other addictions. In animal studies, for example, dopamine has been found to play an important role in overall reward systems, and binging on sugar has been shown to influence dopamine activity.

Food, drugs and other addictive substances and behaviors are all associated with pleasure, hedonism, and social, cultural or sub-cultural desirability. When advertising or the people around us tell us that a food, drug or activity will feel good, it sets up a self-fulfilling prophecy. We are more likely to seek it out, and we are more likely to experience pleasure when we indulge.

Food addiction and Mental Health

Similarities between food addiction and other addictions suggest a universal process underlying food and other addictions. Some experts go further, theorizing that overlaps, similarities, and co-occurrences of mental health problems, including addictions, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and eating disorders, and the phenomenon of a new addiction or mental health problem developing when an old addiction is treated, indicate that they are expressions of related underlying pathologies. It has been argued that viewing these conditions separately hinders the development of a comprehensive view of addictions.

In the study involving 39 healthy women with different weights from lean to overweight or obese, the participants were asked to complete the Yale Food Addiction Scale, which tests for signs of food addiction. Women with full-fledged eating disorders of any type were not included in the study.

Then, using fMRI, researchers led by Yale’s Ashley Gearhardt and Kelly Brownell looked at the women’s brain activity in response to food. In one task, the women were asked to look at pictures of either a luscious chocolate shake or a bland, no-calorie solution. For another brain-scan task, women actually drank the shake made with four scoops of vanilla Häagen-Dazs ice cream, 2% milk and 2 tablespoons of Hershey’s chocolate syrup or the no-calorie control solution, which was designed to be as flavorless as possible (water couldn’t be used because it actually activates taste receptors).

The scientists found that when viewing images of ice cream, the women who had three or more symptoms of food addiction things like frequently worrying about overeating, eating to the point of feeling sick and difficulty functioning due to attempts to control overeating or overeating itself showed more brain activity in regions involved with pleasure and craving than women who had one or no such symptoms.

These areas included the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex and medial orbitofrontal cortex — the same regions that light up in drug addicts who are shown images of drug paraphernalia or drugs.

Similar to people suffering from substance abuse, the food-addicted participants also showed reduced activity in brain regions involved with self-control (the lateral orbitofrontal cortex), when they actually ate the ice cream.

In other words, women with symptoms of food addiction had higher expectations that a chocolate shake would be yummy and pleasurable when they anticipated eating it, and they were less able to stop eating it once they started.

Interestingly, however, unlike drug addicts, the participants with more signs of food addiction did not show a decrease in activity in pleasure-related regions of the brain when they actually ate the ice cream. People with drug addictions tend to derive less and less pleasure from drug use over time — they want drugs more but enjoy them less, creating compulsive behavior. But it’s possible that this tolerance may be seen only in serious addictions, not in people with just a few symptoms.

Notably, the study also found that food addiction symptoms and brain responses to food were not associated with weight: there were some overweight women who showed no food addiction symptoms, and some normal-weight women who did.

That’s why addictions aren’t simple: they involve variations not only in levels of desire, but also in levels of ability to control that desire. And these factors may change in relation to social situations and stress.

Neither heroin nor Häagen-Dazs leads to addiction in the majority of users, and yet there are certain situations that may prompt binges in people who otherwise have high levels of self-control. So the answers to addiction may lie not in the substances themselves, but in the relationship people have with them and the settings in which they are consumed.

Food addiction-Fighting food addiction

 

 

 

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