Dopamine, which is linked to pleasure and reward, can be released in the brain by food, drugs, and alcohol. Dopamine can help you feel better about food, emotions, and your well-being. Food can be a drug if it is used to feed an addiction. The addict will need to eat more food to increase the pleasure and reward.
Dr. Ashley Gearhardt created the Yale Food Addiction Scale to assess how addicted someone is to food. This scale estimates that between 5-10% of UK’s population might be suffering from a food addiction. Food addiction is not the fact that certain foods are addictive to an individual.
Food addicts often have many rules in place to control their behavior, much like drug and alcohol abusers. Problem is, once the food addict starts to eat, it becomes very difficult to follow their rules and make it difficult to stop.
Understanding a Food Addiction
For those with a food addiction, the issue is the food itself but for those with an eating disorder, the behavior is psychological.Treatment for eating disorder professions uses a psychological approach to include cognitive therapy, behavioral modification, and mindfulness to help sufferers learn a healthy relationship with food and resolve underlying mental health disorders. Treatment for food addictions focuses on encouraging and identifying the abstinence from foods that cause the cravings.
Understanding the Differences between Food Addictions & Eating Disorders requires that we look at both the causes and consequences of each. A disorder that causes a loss of control over eating certain foods is called food addiction. A food addiction is a group of chemical dependences on certain foods. This happens after eating high-quality foods like sugar, fat, or salt.
As with drug and alcohol addictions, progressive eating of these foods can cause distortions in the mind and make it difficult for the person to quit. In 2010, a study published in Current Opinion in Gastroenterology found that food addictions can be caused by changes in neurochemistry and neuroanatomy.
What Does the Research Show About?
A 2015 meta-analysis on temperament in eating disorders revealed that eating disorders sufferers avoid high levels of harm when compared to their controls. Bulimic patients had high novelty seeking temperaments. They also showed higher persistence. Another 2010 study showed that lab rats were fed high-fat and high-sugar foods. Brain activity changes were observed in the rats. Brain activity changes were similar to drug abuse.
A food addiction is a persistent obsession with what to eat, when to have it, how to get more, overeating, hiding foods, secretive behavior, and the inability to stop eating or overeating. Food addiction can be described as a psychological or emotional dependence on certain foods and substances. Food addiction is not the same as substance addiction. However, it activates the pleasure-reward and taste-reward regions of the brain.
How does this differ from eating disorders and other eating disorders?
Understanding the difference between eating disorders and food addictions requires that you also examine what eating disorders are. There are several categories of eating disorders.
Anorexia Nervosa
Bulimia Nervosa
Binge Eating Disorder
Eating disorders can be described as a combination of psychological, behavioral, or physiological symptoms. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, eating disorders can be a potentially fatal disease that causes severe changes in eating habits.
An eating disorder can also include obsessiveness about food, body weight, or shape. Anorexia Nervosa refers to an eating disorder that involves extreme restriction, extreme thinness, and the constant pursuit of thinness. It can also include a refusal to maintain a healthy weight.
Anorexics often have a fear of weight gain, distorted body images, and low self-esteem. This is due to their perceptions of body shape and weight. Anemia, osteoporosis, bone loss, hair loss, brittle nails and hair, severe malnutrition, low blood sugar, heart rate and potential brain damage can all be present.
Bulimia Nervosa can be defined as binging episodes that are recurrent, frequent, and without control. You may also experience compensating behaviors such as:
Purging
Excessive exercise
Laxative abuse
Fasting
Or, a combination of both.
Bulimia patients tend to be healthier than those who have anorexia. The most common symptoms are:
Sore or inflamed throat
Tightening of the glands in the neck and jaw
Sensitivity and tooth enamel eroded
Acid reflux and GI distress
Electrolyte imbalance and dehydration.
Binge eating refers to individuals who feel lost in control of their eating habits and have binge-eating episodes that do not follow with compensatory behavior. People who binge-eat are often overweight or obese.
You may experience symptoms such as eating large amounts of food within a two-hour period, eating fast and eating until you feel full. People who binge-eat may do so secretly, have separate financial accounts for their binging and feel shame, guilt, and distress.
Eating disorders and food addiction can be very different. Food addictions and binge eating may seem similar, but they are more closely related to eating patterns, pleasure, and reward. Eating disorders can be both genetic and environmental.