Department of Behavioral Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois 60614, USA.
Curr Opin Gastroenterol. 2010 Mar;26(2):165-9. doi: 10.1097/MOG.0b013e328336528d.
Food addiction has been implicated as a putative causal factor in chronic overeating, binge eating, and obesity. The concept of food addiction has been controversial historically due to definitional and conceptual difficulties and to a lack of rigorous scientific data.
Support for the food addiction hypothesis comes from alterations in neurochemistry (dopamine, endogenous opioids), neuroanatomy (limbic system), and self-medication behaviors. Foods identified as having potential addictive properties include sweets, carbohydrates, fats, sweet/fat combinations, and possibly processed and/or high salt foods. Eating topography has been identified as a necessary factor in neural pathway changes that promote addiction-like properties in response to some foods. A recently developed food addiction scale shows promise in identifying food addiction.
Recent findings have strengthened the case for food addiction. These findings may serve to validate the perception of food addiction in patients and inform psychoeducational, cognitive-behavioral, and/or pharmacological treatment for chronic food cravings, compulsive overeating, and binge eating that may represent a phenotype of obesity. Screening for food addiction has the potential to identify people with eating difficulties that seriously compromise weight management efforts. Future research should include a focus on human food addiction research; evaluating the impact of treatment on underlying neurochemistry; and prevention or reversal of food addiction in humans.
食物成瘾被认为是慢性暴食、暴食和肥胖的一个潜在因果因素。由于定义和概念上的困难以及缺乏严格的科学数据，食物成瘾的概念在历史上一直存在争议。
支持食物成瘾假说的证据来自神经化学（多巴胺、内源性阿片类物质）、神经解剖学（边缘系统）和自我药物治疗行为的改变。被认为具有潜在成瘾特性的食物包括甜食、碳水化合物、脂肪、甜/脂肪混合物，以及可能经过加工和/或高盐的食物。进食模式已被确定为促进某些食物产生类似成瘾特性的神经通路变化的必要因素。最近开发的食物成瘾量表在识别食物成瘾方面显示出了前景。
最近的发现为食物成瘾提供了更有力的证据。这些发现可能有助于验证患者对食物成瘾的看法，并为慢性食物渴望、强迫性暴食和可能代表肥胖表型的暴食提供心理教育、认知行为和/或药物治疗。对食物成瘾进行筛查有可能识别出那些严重影响体重管理的进食困难人群。未来的研究应包括关注人类食物成瘾研究；评估治疗对潜在神经化学的影响；以及预防或逆转人类的食物成瘾。
