The Association Between Binge Eating, Obesity, and Addiction

Obesity has become a worldwide pandemic with an estimated annual cost in related illnesses and loss of productivity over $100 billion and rising. Though not recognized as a psychiatric disorder, obesity has been linked to serious physical, psychological, and social consequences. Some forms of obesity are characterized by the compulsive consumption of food, inability to restrain from further intake despite negative consequences, a desire to cut back, and increasing amounts of food needed to reach satiety, resembling a form of tolerance.These symptoms are remarkably similar to DSM criteria for substance use disorders: preoccupation, escalation, tolerance, denial, and a series of medical, psychological, and social consequences that relate directly to continued use. Research in both animals and humans has demonstrated food-related changes in the brain itself that are very similar to changes caused by drugs of abuse leading to the hypothesis that some forms of obesity and a related contributing behavior, binge eating, may manifest secondary to or along with a “food addiction.” This chapter seeks to describe the common elements and possible intersection of binge eating disorder, obesity, and addiction.