Avena, N., Rada, P. and Hoebel, B. G. (2008). Evidence for Sugar Addiction: Behavioral and Neurochemical Effects of Intermittent, Excessive Sugar Intake. Neuroscience Biobehavioral Review, 32(1): 20-39.
The nervous system evolves to motivate and reinforces an individual to subconsciously eat sweet foods and other foods that may trigger such addictive behavior similar to that of alcohol addiction. In this research, Avena and colleagues attempt to find whether or not sugar should be included in the ranks of heroin and cocaine that could also lead to a natural form of addiction. Avena and colleagues contend that food addiction may be a plausible explanation to explain how the brain pathways evolved in response to natural reinforcements that are activated in the same vein that pathways for narcotics are also activated. The authors discussed four major components of addiction: bingeing, withdrawal, craving and cross-sensitization. These four major components of addiction were contextually defined and were demonstrated using sugar bingeing as the reinforcer. The aforementioned behaviors were correlated to neurochemical changes in the brain that were also observed when using narcotics. Findings indicated that the changes in dopamine level and opioid receptor binding sites, enkephalin mRNA expression and acetylcholine release suggests sugar dependence in rats that may also manifest in human conditions as reported in several cases on obesity.
This paper provides a very good material to support discussions on the biochemical aspects of sugar addiction. Several tables and figures were also provided to give a visual image of the trends and patterns that were observed in some studies related to sugar addiction and neurochemistry. Further, this paper is also published in a credible journal Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Review. The authors are experts in their own respective fields having published other research articles in other reputable journals.
Cheren, M., Foushi, M., Gudmundsdotter, E. H., Hillock, C., Lerner, M. et al. Physical Cravings and Food Addiction. In Werdell, Philip, Ed. (2009). Chapter 2: Binge Eating and the Addictive Model Revisited. Sarasota, FL: The Food Addiction Institute.
This article is published in the Food Addiction Institute and is included in the second chapter of the book Binge Eating and the Addictive Model Revisited that is edited by Philip Werdell, co-author of the same article. In this article, Cheren and colleagues noted that there were scientific studies demonstrating the mechanism of carbohydrate bingeing among obese adults that are neither alcoholic nor drug addict. Those who are bingeing on dense carbohydrates have a D2 dopamine gene marker that is distinct from alcoholism or drug addiction. This scientific review of various scientific literature related to food addiction provides insightful ideas that are very useful in establishing the background of the study and in developing the flow of the main discussion. Other notable research that were discussed in this review include human production of opiods that are the chemical active ingredients of narcotics such as heroin and cocaine from digesting excessive sugars and fats in the body. This discussion is supported by another literature suggesting that obese adults are able to identify a physical craving for foods that are rich in carbohydrates and fats that causes to trigger their bingeing behavior while over-eating refined foods. Some of the findings that were included in the discussion focused on the mechanism of Prader-Willi Syndrome—a behavior related to individuals with a very strong biochemical urges to eat and binge on all foods. The authors conclude that the fast accumulating research since 1993 about food craving and addiction shows evidence on the linked between food addiction and dopamine and other chemicals that establishes food dependencies. Further, some of these researches indicate that food cravings like drug and alcoholic addiction can also be treated.
Davis, C. (2013). From Passive Overeating to “Food Addiction”: A Spectrum of Compulsion and Severity. ISRN Obesity, 2013: Article ID435027.
In this review paper, Caroline Davis points out how the modern environment triggers over-consumption among individuals. Davis provides evidences to support her argument that food addiction is a more acute pathological form of binge eating disorder. The overlapping symptoms and characteristics of binge eating disorders and drug abuse has been associated with chronic emotional and social stress leading to a high dependence on palatable food. Binge eating disorder like alcohol and drug abuse could be categorized as an addiction disorder. Davis also emphasized the increasing statistics of overeating based on the body mass index and how these indices relate to the degree of compulsive ingestive behaviors of individuals. Davis argues that inferences on scientific research related to food addiction should be made with caution because there are certain instances when the diagnosis of obesity may be over-generalized as food addiction rather than being caused by other factors such as hypothyroidism.
Overall, this review paper is recommended to be cited in one of the discussions on food addiction and because the paper shows a high credibility since it is published in a reputable journal ISRN Obesity that is also peer-reviewed and edited by other respected researchers from the academe. Davis also uses reputable journal articles written by scholars who are experts in their own field and who are critically acclaimed internationally in the academe community.
Fisher, J. O. and Birch, L. L. (1999). Restricting Access to Palatable Foods Affects Children’s Behavioral Response, Food Selection and Intake. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 69(6): 1264-1272.
Fisher and Birch aims to test the hypothesis whether restricting children in having access to palatable foods is efficient in developing better food choices and moderating intake of foods that are high in sugars and fats. Their interest to undertake this study in the 1990s owes to the fact that the efficacy of food restriction of children in improving their behavioural responses toward carbohydrate and fat dense foods is still unknown. There are two experiments used for this study: testing the effects of restriction within and outside the context of restriction, and the effects within the restricted context. Results showed that restricting access increased children’s behavior to the restricted food and also increased the succeeding choices and intake of restricted food.
This research demonstrates that restricting children’s access to palatable food within their eating environment is not effective in promoting moderate patterns of intake. However, restricting children’s access to palatable food may further promote the opposite behavior that could trigger external eating signals while increasing the desire to consume the restricted food. The discussion in this study may not directly focus on food addiction and eating disorders in children. However, this paper provides good information on the factors that influence bingeing and food craving of restricted foods in children. Because this is a pioneer study, Fisher and Birch also recommended the need for long-term studies on chronic restrictions effect to children’s behavior in controlling their eating.
This article is published in a reputable journal American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and is peer-reviewed by distinguished researchers in the academe. Thus, this article although it does not provide information on the clinical aspects of food addiction is still important in establishing the factors that could lead to encourage over-eating besides other factors such as watching television.
Gearhardt, A. N., White, M. A., and Potenza, M. N. (2011). Binge Eating Disorder and Food Addiction. Current Drug Abuse Review, 4(3): 201-207.
Gearhardt and colleagues also noted the same observation with Davis on the shared characteristics of binge eating disorders and addictive behaviours such as the continuous use of a particular substance despite the negative effects on the body. In this paper, the authors examine the relationship between food addiction and binge eating disorder by understanding the underlying mechanisms during the development of the disease and the maintenance of the problematic eating habits. Three theoretical similarities and differences between binge eating disorder and food addiction were discussed. The similarities include dopamine activation, elevated levels of activation of the medial orbifrontal cortex, and the dorsal striatal activation. On the other hand, the differences between the two conditions include out-of –control eating in binge disorder, the emphasis in the role of the substance in the dependence behavior, and the role of the substance in triggering the addictive behavior.
This paper also points out some empirical evidences to show the relationship between binge eating disorder and food addiction and well as the clinical implications of the two disorders. Further, Gearhardt and colleagues noted that binge eating disorder is related to a specific feature of addiction such as compulsive eating regardless of negative consequences. On the other hand, eating addiction may be associated with non-binge eating-disorder-related obesity. The authors also emphasized the need to incorporate addiction assessments when conducting obesity studies to clearly delineate the boundaries between addiction and binge eating to develop a better strategy in implementing clinical interventions. This article can serve as a very useful material to elaborate the discussion of Davis on binge eating disorder and food addiction. The authors cited peer-reviewed journal articles. Thus, this paper is highly credible to be cited as a reference.
Pedram P, Wadden D, Amini P, Gulliver W, Randell E, et al. (2013). Food Addiction: Its Prevalence and Significant Association with Obesity in the General Population. PLoS ONE, 8(9): e74832. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0074832.
Food addiction as was previously mentioned in other literatures shares a common characteristic both in the aspect of neurobiological and behavioral context of narcotics and other substance addiction. In this recent study about food addiction, Pedram and colleagues demonstrates the prevalence of food addiction and how such behavior is significantly associated with obesity in the general population. The objective of their study is to determine the prevalence of food addiction in Newfoundland, the clinical symptoms of food addiction and its relation to body measurement and obesity, and the relationship of the behavior to macronutrient intake of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Results revealed that there is a 5.4% prevalence of food addiction in the entire population of Newfoundland that is dominated by female groups. Similarly there is also an increase in the rate of obesity. The clinical symptoms of food addiction are significantly positively correlated to all body mass indices of all samples. The degree of obesity is higher in food addicts as opposed to control samples. Food addicts also consume more calories from fat and protein. These findings suggest that food addiction contributes to the degree of obesity and body composition of an individual.
This research paper may be used as supporting evidence in establishing the relationship of obesity and food addiction in the main discussion. The authors have published numerous articles related to this topic in peer-reviewed scholarly journals making them experts in their own field. This paper also provides significant information that are highly recommended to be cited in the main discussion.
Pentz, M. A., Spruijt-Metz, D., Chou, C. P. and Riggs, N. R. (2011). High Calorie, Low Nutrient Food/Beverage Intake and Video Gaming in Children as Potential Signals for Addictive Behavior. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 8: 4406-4424.
In this paper, Pentz and colleagues demonstrate how high calorie, low nutrient food intake and video gaming reinforce addictive behavior in children. The study is closely related to that of Temple and colleagues in which sedentary activity such as watching television stimulates an increase in food and energy intake. According to Pentz et al., there is limited information about the co-occurence of health risk behaviors in children that may cue an addictive behavior in the future. Their study aims to test four major hypotheses: (1) video gaming and low nutrient food intake grows over a period of time; (2) video gaming and high calorie low nutrient food intake co-occur within individuals; (3) outcomes of video gaming and high calorie low nutrient intake result to a common set of risk factors such as inhibitory control problems, gender orientation, race and ethnicity, socio-economic status, academic performance, and stress and coping mechanism; and (4) risk factors take the form of the variation in strength of risk or the opposite relationship of the risk. The study is limited to fourth grade children and to the aforementioned risk factors.
The SEM and growth curve analyses of the study indicates a co-occurence in the model that is leaning towards the specificity of addiction. Results also indicated the both gaming and high calorie low nutrient intake may be predicted by gender orientation, ethnicity, and stress level suggesting further that impoverished neighborhoods sometimes use high calorie low nutrient intake and video games as compensatory responses on their poor economic conditions and other stresses in life. The authors also suggested addiction prevention programs to include training for control skills, and safety improvement on routes to school programs.
This study is a very useful material that could be used in the main discussions of the paper involving factors affecting food addiction and the associated sedentary behaviors that reinforces such activity. This paper is also published in a reputable journal. Thus, it is highly recommended to be cited in the discussion of the research study on factors affecting food addiction.
Temple, J. L., Giacomelli, A. M., Kent, K. M., Roenmich, J. N. and Epstein, L. H. (2007). Television Watching Increases Motivated Responding for Food and Energy Intake in Children. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 85(2): 355-361.
Evidences linking sedentary activities such as watching television and the increased motivation to eat and acquire more energy are fast accumulating. In this study, Temple and colleagues aim to illustrate the relationship between watching television and such increase in motivated response for food intake through a series of experiments involving the ingestive behaviour of children. Their findings suggest that there is a significant difference with the response of the control group that controls the television stimulus however, requiring low attention and the group that watches television shows while eating food. The group that continuously watched television significantly displayed an increased in eating behaviour as opposed to those who did not watched the television show. Temple and colleague contend that television watching may influence the eating habit of children by disrupting the normal eating pattern thereby explaining the mechanism involved in increase intake of energy.
This research successfully demonstrated how watching television demonstrate affect the eating habit of children and how such behaviour reinforces children to increase their food and energy intake. This article could be used in discussing the factors that promote eating disorders that lead to obesity in children. This paper is very useful because it uses experimental data support the hypothesis of the authors who are experts in their own field. This research is also peer-reviewed by other internationally distinguished researchers. Thus, this article is a very good material to support a claim when establishing the relationship between child obesity, eating disorder and television shows.
Temple, J. L., Legierski, C. M., Giacomelli, A. M., Salvy, S. J., and Epstein, L. H. (2008). Overweight Children Find Food more Reinforcing and Consume more Energy than do Nonoverweight Children. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 87(5): 1121-1127.
Obesity is a disorder involving excessive intake of energy. Food as a reinforcement is seen as one of the motivation indices for energy intake. It has been reported that obese adults regard food as a support system as opposed to non-obese adults. In this study, Temple and colleagues determines the support value of food in children as a function of weight in eight to 12 years old children. The authors also attempt to find out how these relative support values of food vary depending on the availability of non-food alternatives such as playing video games, reading magazines or completing a word puzzle or maze. Pizza and other snack fools were used as a means to measure the indices of motivation of obese and non-obese children against non-food alternatives. Findings show that overweight children perceived food as more reinforcing compared to their non-overweight counterpart. Regardless of the type of alternative activity, overweight children considered food as relatively reinforcing. In another replicated study, the results also indicated that overweight children find food more reinforcing than the leaner ones. Despite this result, Temple and colleagues emphasized that there is a difference between liking food and food reinforcement. That is; lining for foods and non-food alternatives are independent processes of one another but the motivation to obtain food is a better predictor as compared to liking food. Because this study is limited to a particular age group and food type the authors suggest the need to extend this research to a different age group and a wider range of food and activities.
Although this study on food reinforcement cannot be directly generalized as a direct causative agent of obesity vis-a-vis food addiction and bingeing, this study is still important in understanding how children behave differently compared to adults with respect to responding to food stimulus. This paper is published in a reputable journal and the lead authors published other research studies that are related to this research on a reputable journal. Therefore, this study is could be used as a reference material in one of the opening discussions about the nature of food reinforcement and obesity.
References
Avena, N., Rada, P. and Hoebel, B. G. (2008). Evidence for Sugar Addiction: Behavioral and Neurochemical Effects of Intermittent, Excessive Sugar Intake. Neuroscience Biobehavioral Review, 32(1): 20-39.
Cheren, M., Foushi, M., Gudmundsdotter, E. H., Hillock, C., Lerner, M. et al. Physical Cravings and Food Addiction. In Werdell, Philip, Ed. (2009). Chapter 2: Binge Eating and the Addictive Model Revisited. Sarasota, FL: The Food Addiction Institute.
Davis, C. (2013). From Passive Overeating to “Food Addiction”: A Spectrum of Compulsion and Severity. ISRN Obesity, 2013: Article ID435027.
Fisher, J. O. and Birch, L. L. (1999). Restricting Access to Palatable Foods Affects Children’s Behavioral Response, Food Selection and Intake. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 69(6): 1264-1272.
Gearhardt, A. N., White, M. A., and Potenza, M. N. (2011). Binge Eating Disorder and Food Addiction. Current Drug Abuse Review, 4(3): 201-207.
Pedram P, Wadden D, Amini P, Gulliver W, Randell E, et al. (2013). Food Addiction: Its Prevalence and Significant Association with Obesity in the General Population. PLoS ONE, 8(9): e74832. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0074832.
Pentz, M. A., Spruijt-Metz, D., Chou, C. P. and Riggs, N. R. (2011). High Calorie, Low Nutrient Food/Beverage Intake and Video Gaming in Children as Potential Signals for Addictive Behavior. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 8, 4406-4424.
Temple, J. L., Giacomelli, A. M., Kent, K. M., Roenmich, J. N. and Epstein, L. H. (2007). Television Watching Increases Motivated Responding for Food and Energy Intake in Children. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 85(2): 355-361.
Temple, J. L., Legierski, C. M., Giacomelli, A. M., Salvy, S. J., and Epstein, L. H. (2008). Overweight Children Find Food more Reinforcing and Consume more Energy than do Nonoverweight Children. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 87(5): 1121-1127.
