Even though addiction is an authentic wellness issue, we can use the phrase willy-nilly, without any real regard to how it can be a debilitating aspect of your life. Drug addiction, for example, really takes its toll on your wellbeing – especially when you try to get clean and experience very painful withdrawal symptoms. Yet while we understand that addiction causes actions and behaviours that are difficult to control, we loosely apply this word to something as simple as food. You might call yourself a “chocoholic” or say “I would go on a diet, but I’m just addicted to food!” But are you just using hyperbole to make excuses? Or could food addiction be just as real as a dependency on drugs?
Characterised by intense cravings, food addictions are not often grouped together with drug addictions because eating food and choosing what to eat are often seen as your personal choice; diets are only achievable if you have the self-discipline to say no to cake. However, according to a new study, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, food addictions can be as real as drug addictions in that food triggers your mind, rather than your stomach, to want to fulfil the cravings. Study leader Dr. David Ludwig, the director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Centre at Boston Children’s Hospital, asserted, ‘The concept of food addiction is very provocative and rightly so. Unlike drugs of abuse, food is necessary for survival.’
For the study, the researchers focused on glycaemic index – which is a measurement of how foods increase blood sugar level – in 12 obese men. The participants drank two milkshakes – both containing the same level of calories, protein, fat and carbohydrates – but one had a higher glycaemic index than the other. The researchers then took MRI brain scans of all of the participants, and found that the milk shake triggered activity in the nucleus accumbens. This is a region of your brain that gets triggered by addictive drugs and behaviours.
Ludwig explained, ‘These results suggest that highly processed carbohydrates trigger food cravings for many hours after consumption independent of calories or tastiness, and that limiting these foods could help people avoid over-eating.’ The researchers surmised that several hours after the consumption of food, your glycaemic index drops and so at this point the nucleus accumbens might be responsible for triggering the need for more.
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