Ultra-Processed Food Addiction: An Epidemic?

LaFata, Erica M.; Gearhardt, Ashley N.

doi:10.1159/000527322

Cited by 30 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 106 publications

(155 reference statements)

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“…It warns the clinician to a state of iatrogenic comorbidity [11], that may suggest refraining from further use of antidepressants and pursuing alternative strategies, such as psychotherapy. The concept of behavioral toxicity may also apply to food consumption as a form of addiction [30].…”

Section: The Clinimetric Integrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinimetric Integration of Diagnostic Criteria for a Personalized Psychiatry

Fava¹

2022

Psychother Psychosom

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Section: The Clinimetric Integrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinimetric Integration of Diagnostic Criteria for a Personalized Psychiatry

Fava¹

2022

Psychother Psychosom

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“…However, it is essential to confirm these findings in a large-scale multicenter trial. Moreover, as a perspective, this new treatment approach might enrich therapeutic options for other disorders linked with cognitive and/or impulse control deficits and might tackle different public health challenges associated with a rapidly changing food environment [45]. Importantly, tDCS-enhanced training should be embedded in a comprehensive individual psychotherapeutic concept, resulting in an enhanced psychotherapy approach.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inhibitory Control Training Enhanced by Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation to Reduce Binge Eating Episodes: Findings from the Randomized Phase II ACCElect Trial

Giel¹,

Schag²,

Max³

et al. 2023

Psychother Psychosom

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Introduction: Binge eating disorder (BED) is characterized by recurrent binge eating (BE) episodes with loss of control. Inhibitory control impairments, including alterations in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) functioning, have been described for BED. A targeted modulation of inhibitory control circuits by the combination of inhibitory control training and transcranial brain stimulation could be promising. Objective: The aim of the study was to demonstrate feasibility and clinical effects of a transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)-enhanced inhibitory control training to reduce BE episodes and to generate an empirical basis for a confirmatory trial. Methods: We performed a monocentric clinical phase II double-blind randomized trial with two parallel arms. Forty-one adult outpatients with full-syndrome BED according to DSM-5 received six sessions of food-related inhibitory control training, randomly combined with 2 mA verum or sham tDCS of the right dlPFC. The main outcome was BE frequency within a 4-week interval after treatment termination (T8; primary) and at 12-week follow-up (T9; secondary) as compared to baseline. Results: BE frequency was reduced in the sham group from 15.5 to 5.9 (T8) and to 6.8 (T9); in the verum group, the reduction was 18.6 to 4.4 (T8) resp. 3.8 (T9). Poisson regression with the study arm as the factor and baseline BE frequency as the covariate revealed a p value of 0.34 for T8 and 0.026 for T9. Sham and real tDCS differed at T9 in BE frequency. Conclusions: Inhibitory control training enhanced by tDCS is safe in patients with BED and results in a substantial and sustainable reduction in BE frequency which unfolds over several weeks post-treatment. These results constitute the empirical basis for a confirmatory trial.

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“…The high palatability of these foods appears to short-circuit behavior change related to consumption, even if individuals are aware of their potentially detrimental effects. Notably, emerging research from both animal and human studies suggests that ultra-processed foods and beverages provoke tolerance and withdrawal effects-the cardinal symptoms related to addictive substances [63,64]. In addition, accumulating research shows that consumption of high-fat, high-sugar, and highsodium ultra-processed foods is a form of self-medication to attenuate stress-although there are acute post-consumption perceived benefits of these so-called comfort foods, the long-term consumption places a physiological burden on the body [65].…”

Section: The Commercial Determinants Of Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Founder: Dispositional Greed, Showbiz, and the Commercial Determinants of Health

Logan¹,

D’Adamo

Prescott

2023

IJERPH

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Marketing unhealthy products by multinational corporations has caused considerable harm to individual health, collective wellbeing, and environmental sustainability. This is a growing threat to all societies and a significant contributor to the rising global burden of non-communicable diseases and early mortality. While there is growing consideration of the commercial determinants of health, this is largely focused on the methods by which unhealthy products are marketed and disseminated, including efforts to manipulate policy. Little attention has been paid to the underlying psychological traits and worldviews that are driving corporate greed. Here, we consider the role of “dispositional greed” in the commercial determinants of health with a focus on the historical attitudes and culture in the ultra-processed food industry—exemplified by “The Founder” of the McDonald’s franchise. We argue that greed and associated psychological constructs, such as social dominance orientation and collective narcissism, permeate the commercial determinants of health at a collective level. This includes how a culture of greed within organizations, and individual dispositional greed, can magnify and cluster at scale, perpetuated by social dominance orientation. We also consider the ways in which “showbiz” marketing specifically targets marginalized populations and vulnerable groups, including children—in ways that are justified, or even celebrated despite clear links to non-communicable diseases and increased mortality. Finally, we consider how greed and exploitative mindsets mirror cultural values and priorities, with trends for increasing collective narcissism at scale, recognizing that many of these attitudes are cultivated in early life. A healthier future will depend on navigating a path that balances material prosperity with physical and spiritual wellbeing. This will require cultural change that places higher value on kindness, reciprocity, and mutualistic values especially in early life, for more equitable flourishing.

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Ultra-Processed Food Addiction: An Epidemic?

Cited by 30 publications

References 106 publications

Clinimetric Integration of Diagnostic Criteria for a Personalized Psychiatry

Clinimetric Integration of Diagnostic Criteria for a Personalized Psychiatry

Inhibitory Control Training Enhanced by Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation to Reduce Binge Eating Episodes: Findings from the Randomized Phase II ACCElect Trial

The Founder: Dispositional Greed, Showbiz, and the Commercial Determinants of Health

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