Cargando…

Current Status of Evidence for a New Diagnosis: Food Addiction-A Literature Review

Food addiction is considered an important link for a better understanding of psychiatric and medical problems triggered by dysfunctions of eating behaviors, e. g., obesity, metabolic syndrome, binge eating disorder, or bulimia nervosa. At behavioral level, food addiction has high degrees of similari...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Vasiliu, Octavian
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8784968/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35082706
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.824936
_version_ 1784638856045264896
author Vasiliu, Octavian
author_facet Vasiliu, Octavian
author_sort Vasiliu, Octavian
collection PubMed
description Food addiction is considered an important link for a better understanding of psychiatric and medical problems triggered by dysfunctions of eating behaviors, e. g., obesity, metabolic syndrome, binge eating disorder, or bulimia nervosa. At behavioral level, food addiction has high degrees of similarity with other eating disorders, a phenomenon that creates difficulties in finding specific diagnostic criteria. Food addiction has been also described as “eating addiction” or “eating dependence” by several researchers, who placed the emphasis on the behavior and not on the food itself. High-sodium foods, artificially flavored-foods, rich carbohydrate- and saturated fats-containing foods are triggers for the activation of the same neural pathways, therefore they act similarly to any drug of abuse. Food addiction is considered a disorder based on functional negative consequences, associated distress and potential risks to both psychological well-being and physical health. A clinical scale was validated for the quantification of the eating addiction severity, namely the Yale Food Addiction Severity Scale (YFAS), constructed to match DSM IV criteria for substance dependence. Using this instrument, a high prevalence of food addiction was found in the general population, up to 20% according to a meta-analytic research. The pathogenesis of this entity is still uncertain, but reward dysfunction, impulsivity and emotion dysregulation have been considered basic mechanisms that trigger both eating dysfunctions and addictive behaviors. Genetic factors may be involved in this dependence, as modulators of higher carbohydrate and saturate fat craving. Regarding the existence of potential therapeutic solutions, lorcaserin, antiepileptic drugs, opioid antagonists, antiaddictive agents are recommended for obesity and eating disorders, and they may be intuitively used in food addiction, but clinical trials are necessary to confirm their efficacy. In conclusion, a better understanding of food addiction's clinical profile and pathogenesis may help clinicians in finding prevention- and therapeutic-focused interventions in the near future.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8784968
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-87849682022-01-25 Current Status of Evidence for a New Diagnosis: Food Addiction-A Literature Review Vasiliu, Octavian Front Psychiatry Psychiatry Food addiction is considered an important link for a better understanding of psychiatric and medical problems triggered by dysfunctions of eating behaviors, e. g., obesity, metabolic syndrome, binge eating disorder, or bulimia nervosa. At behavioral level, food addiction has high degrees of similarity with other eating disorders, a phenomenon that creates difficulties in finding specific diagnostic criteria. Food addiction has been also described as “eating addiction” or “eating dependence” by several researchers, who placed the emphasis on the behavior and not on the food itself. High-sodium foods, artificially flavored-foods, rich carbohydrate- and saturated fats-containing foods are triggers for the activation of the same neural pathways, therefore they act similarly to any drug of abuse. Food addiction is considered a disorder based on functional negative consequences, associated distress and potential risks to both psychological well-being and physical health. A clinical scale was validated for the quantification of the eating addiction severity, namely the Yale Food Addiction Severity Scale (YFAS), constructed to match DSM IV criteria for substance dependence. Using this instrument, a high prevalence of food addiction was found in the general population, up to 20% according to a meta-analytic research. The pathogenesis of this entity is still uncertain, but reward dysfunction, impulsivity and emotion dysregulation have been considered basic mechanisms that trigger both eating dysfunctions and addictive behaviors. Genetic factors may be involved in this dependence, as modulators of higher carbohydrate and saturate fat craving. Regarding the existence of potential therapeutic solutions, lorcaserin, antiepileptic drugs, opioid antagonists, antiaddictive agents are recommended for obesity and eating disorders, and they may be intuitively used in food addiction, but clinical trials are necessary to confirm their efficacy. In conclusion, a better understanding of food addiction's clinical profile and pathogenesis may help clinicians in finding prevention- and therapeutic-focused interventions in the near future. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-01-10 /pmc/articles/PMC8784968/ /pubmed/35082706 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.824936 Text en Copyright © 2022 Vasiliu. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychiatry
Vasiliu, Octavian
Current Status of Evidence for a New Diagnosis: Food Addiction-A Literature Review
title Current Status of Evidence for a New Diagnosis: Food Addiction-A Literature Review
title_full Current Status of Evidence for a New Diagnosis: Food Addiction-A Literature Review
title_fullStr Current Status of Evidence for a New Diagnosis: Food Addiction-A Literature Review
title_full_unstemmed Current Status of Evidence for a New Diagnosis: Food Addiction-A Literature Review
title_short Current Status of Evidence for a New Diagnosis: Food Addiction-A Literature Review
title_sort current status of evidence for a new diagnosis: food addiction-a literature review
topic Psychiatry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8784968/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35082706
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.824936
work_keys_str_mv AT vasiliuoctavian currentstatusofevidenceforanewdiagnosisfoodaddictionaliteraturereview