The Concept of Food Addiction: a Review of the Current Evidence

Purpose of ReviewWith the literature on food addiction expanding rapidly, we aim to provide an overview of what is known about this topic, including its assessment, prevalence, and associated behavioral, clinical, and neurobiological characteristics.Recent FindingsThe literature presents compelling evidence for the validity of the concept of food addiction, revealing numerous substantive parallels between compulsive overeating and substance use disorders. Research published since the introduction of a formal measure of food addiction has examined neurobiological characteristics associated with food addiction, providing evidence of similarities between neural responses in individuals with food addiction and those with substance use disorders. Furthermore, food addiction has been associated with heightened depression, anxiety, and eating psychopathology. There is also evidence of poorer treatment outcomes in clinical populations, highlighting the importance of continued investigation of this condition.SummaryThe extent to which food addiction is equivalent to substance use disorders remains an open question; however, it is clear that the presence of food addiction has implications for physical and psychological health outcomes. A focus for future research should be identifying specific symptoms of food addiction that contribute to these poor outcomes and greater psychopathology, to inform the development of therapeutic interventions for food addiction.