The danger of deliciousness - food addiction

by Alisha Smith | Thursday, April 08, 2010

I’ll admit to being prone to a good finger-pointing session when it comes to laying blame on the media, fast-food companies and a range of other sources for our sky-rocketing obesity levels.

At other times I’ve wondered if it’s just a matter of ‘will power’ and of being ‘determined enough’ to avoid the fast food restaurants and the shiny, crinkly packages that stock our supermarket shelves. I’ve marvelled at stories that chart the demise of more than a few apparently healthy and happy people; reading wide-eyed and open-mouthed as they recount tales of midnight, midday and mid-morning binges.

Yet recent mounting evidence suggests that food addiction is as legitimate and powerful as drug addiction.

Medical News Today reported on research conducted by Professor Paul Kenny and Paul Johnson of The Scripps Research Institute in Florida. Their study looked at the response of pleasure centres in the brains of rats after consuming high-calorie, high-fat foods such as cheesecake, bacon, sausages and chocolate cake. Professor Kenny explains that ‘the animals completely lost control over their eating behaviour, the primary hallmark of addiction.’

While these particular findings may not come as a surprise (research on sugar addiction has been addressed for a number of years – see the following 2008 blog post http://www.fitnessnetwork.com.au/_blog/Network_Blog/post/New_Research_on_Sugar_Addiction/), the extent of the addiction is astonishing. One group of rats, which was exposed to high-calorie foods in unlimited supply, quickly became obese as the rodents began to eat all day long, consuming twice the calories of a control group. Once removed from the high-calorie foods that they had become accustomed to, the rats chose to starve themselves rather than eat healthy food.

Kenny and Johnson noted that, biologically, the response from the rats was comparable to those of human drug addicts – characterised by significantly lower levels of D2 dopamine receptors – and that after repeated overconsumption the ‘highly pleasurable food’ triggered changes in the brain, leading to addiction.

As fitness professionals we’re often privy to our overweight clients’ and participants’ thoughts and feelings on food, and to assist them with their fitness goals we try to impart gradual lifestyle changes to improve their food attitudes and habits. How do you deal with a client that exhibits all the trademark stamps of food addiction? Do you believe that the concept of food addiction is a genuine one, or is it lack of discipline by another name? Everyone in our industry has an opinion on obesity and overweight, so please take this opportunity to share your thoughts and experiences below.

Posted by: Anonymous | 10-May-2010 03:43 PM |

To be honest , I dont think of obesity as food "addiction"

The way I deal with it is to try and understand the various aspects of their personality, their values, their thoughts and behaviours and lastly how these things affect their emotions. (by no means easy though!)

A lot of the time, their relationship to food is conditioned by family or life events. Helping people understand themselves is the goal.