The Exaggeration of Food Addiction: Most Weight-Controllers are Athletes, not Addicts

Food addiction has become a popular notion in the media and the scientific community, with many proposing that an addiction to food causes obesity. Although food addictions may affect some people, this notion may also prove more harmful than helpful. This review explores the concept and implications of food addiction. It first compares food addiction to the diagnostic criteria for substance abuse. It then discusses the empirical evidence of the prevalence of food addiction and binge eating, contrasted with the prevalence of obesity, highlighting important discrepancies. Finally, it summarizes research and expert opinions on food addiction, as well as the potential harm caused by encouraging researchers, healthcare workers, and obese people to view food addiction as a primary cause of obesity. Ultimately, this review concludes that the concept of food addiction does not fit the data or serve the interests of obese people nearly as well as an alternative perspective: viewing weight controllers as athletes, not food addicts. The idea of food addiction has become a popular concept in the media and in the scientific community. Proponents of this idea view addiction to food as the primary explanation for obesity, that people gain excess weight because they are food addicts. Obese people ostensibly use food as their drug of choice. If people struggle to control weight, this food-drug supposedly helps them get through the stresses of everyday life. However, this characterization is problematic in its message to those that wish to lose weight and to successful weight controllers. It portrays anyone who struggles to lose weight as an addict who binge eats. If one manages to control weight, he or she would be considered a food addict in recovery. Do these notions accurately represent obesity? Indeed, some who are obese believe in this addictive notion to explain their weight problems. For a few of them, it may actually help them understand the power of the biological forces working against their success. For the majority, however, the notion of food addiction may cause more harm than good. The present paper will examine the food addiction proposition first by defining key terms, then by examining the evidence supporting the food addiction hypothesis conceptually and empirically. We will then present evidence supporting the potentially harmful effects of the food addiction model and draw appropriate conclusions.