Inability to Control Eating: Addiction to Food or Normal Response to Abnormal Environment?

Abstract

SUMMARY Both the increasing prevalence of obesity in a society obsessed with trying to be thin, and the self-reported inability to control eating in many obese patients, point to the possibility that overeating may be prevalent despite attempts to control it. The apparent lack of control has led some to describe overeating as an addiction. This paper briefly reviews the problem of overeating by examining the associated phenomenological, psychological, and physiological correlates of excessive appetite. A variety of factors may contribute to overeating, including the food environment, social influence, use of food to alleviate negative mood states, and potentiation of appetite from restrictive dieting. Although overeating may not fit an addictive model, the lack of self-control over eating has implications for treatment interventions and public health policy.