Department of Psychology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
Institute for Addiction Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Obes Rev. 2022 Nov;23(11):e13507. doi: 10.1111/obr.13507. Epub 2022 Oct 5.
Researchers are currently debating whether theories of addiction explain compulsive overeating of highly processed (HP) foods (i.e., industrially created foods high in refined carbohydrates and/or fat), which contributes to obesity and diet-related disease. A subset of individuals consumes HP foods with behavioral phenotypes that mirror substance use disorders. Withdrawal, the emergence of aversive physical and psychological symptoms upon reduction or cessation of substance use, is a core component of addiction that was central to historical debates about other substances' addictive potential (e.g., nicotine and cocaine). However, no one has systematically considered evidence for whether HP foods cause withdrawal, which represents a key knowledge gap regarding the utility of addiction models for understanding compulsive overeating. Thus, we reviewed evidence for whether animals and humans exhibit withdrawal when reducing or eliminating HP food intake. Controlled experimental evidence indicates animals experience HP food withdrawal marked by neural reward changes and behaviors consistent with withdrawal from other addictive substances. In humans, preliminary evidence supports subjective withdrawal-like experiences. However, most current human research is limited to retrospective recall. Further experimental research is needed to evaluate this construct. We outline future research directions to investigate HP food withdrawal in humans and consider potential clinical implications.
研究人员目前正在争论成瘾理论是否能解释对高度加工（HP）食品（即工业生产的高精制碳水化合物和/或脂肪食品）的强迫性过度食用，这会导致肥胖和与饮食相关的疾病。有一部分人食用 HP 食品的行为表现与物质使用障碍相似。戒断是物质使用减少或停止后出现的不愉快的身体和心理症状，是成瘾的核心组成部分，这也是历史上关于其他物质成瘾潜力（如尼古丁和可卡因）争论的核心。然而，没有人系统地考虑过 HP 食品是否会导致戒断的证据，这是关于成瘾模型用于理解强迫性暴食的一个关键知识空白。因此，我们回顾了有关动物和人类在减少或消除 HP 食物摄入时是否会出现戒断的证据。对照实验证据表明，动物会出现 HP 食物戒断，表现为神经奖励变化和与其他成瘾物质戒断一致的行为。在人类中，初步证据支持主观戒断样体验。然而，目前大多数人类研究仅限于回顾性回忆。需要进一步的实验研究来评估这一结构。我们概述了未来研究的方向，以研究人类对 HP 食物的戒断，并考虑潜在的临床意义。
