Elsevier

Appetite

Volume 115, 1 August 2017, Pages 16-18
Appetite

Commentary
Is it time to consider the “food use disorder?”

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2017.01.029Get rights and content

Abstract

In the contemporary milieu, the term “addiction” brings to mind issues of physical dependence, uncontrolled behavior, psychoactive substances, and disease. Thus, the use of the term “food addiction” which has become common in research on binge eating and obesity, suggests a disease state characterized by craving, compulsive eating and, possibly, the presence of food constituents with drug-like properties which weaken the will power to abstain from consumption. In this commentary, the case is made that, following the trends in substance use disorder terminology, adoption of “food use disorder” as a term for compulsive eating associated with subjective loss of control may foster continued research in this area without the connotations suggested by “food addiction.”

References (33)

  • P.J. Rogers

    Food and drug addictions: Similarities and differences

    Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior

    (2017)
  • P.H. Thibodeau et al.

    The relationship between narrative classification of obesity and support for public policy interventions

    Social Science & Medicine

    (2015)
  • S.-L. Vella et al.

    What is in a name? Is food addiction a misnomer?

    Asian Journal of Psychiatry

    (2017)
  • American Psychiatric Association

    Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders

    (2013)
  • N.M. Avena et al.

    Implications of food addiction and drug use in obesity

    Psychiatric Annals

    (2011)
  • K.L. Bannon et al.

    The effects of causal beliefs and binge eating on the stigmatization of obesity

    International Journal of Eating Disorders

    (2009)
  • Cited by (23)

    • Food addiction among university students: The effect of mindful eating

      2022, Appetite
      Citation Excerpt :

      Although the FA risk was slightly higher in women, in line with the literature (Giannopoulou et al., 2020; Yu et al., 2018), it has been determined that mindful eating status affects the food dependence behavior in both sexes. The prevalence of FA of overall students was 15.3% which falls within the range of 4.3%–24% observed in other studies conducted among undergraduate student populations in the literature (Borisenkov et al., 2021; Gearhardt et al., 2009; Grammatikopoulou et al., 2018; Manzoni et al., 2018; Meule, 2011; Murphy et al., 2014; Najem et al., 2020; Nolan, 2017; Obregón et al., 2015; Yu & Tan, 2016). Furthermore, it was found to be significantly higher (21.2%) among those overweight or obese (p < .01), who were found to have a 1.7 times higher risk of being food addicted (OR = 1.7, [95% CI: 1.32–2.26], p < .001) (Table 2).

    • Prevalence of food addiction and association with stress, sleep quality and chronotype: A cross-sectional survey among university students

      2020, Clinical Nutrition
      Citation Excerpt :

      FA is assessed using the same criteria found in the DSM-IV-TR criteria for substance dependence such as hazardous use, tolerance, use in larger amounts, much time spent using, as well as many other substance use disorder criteria [14]. Nolan proposed the adoption of “food use disorder” as a term for compulsive eating associated with subjective loss of control in an effort to foster continued research in this area without the connotations suggested by “food addiction” [12]. Nonetheless, a substantial body of research now supports the influence of natural rewards (such as sex, social interactions and food) in the development of “addictive” disorders [15,16].

    • Food addiction, in obese patients seeking bariatric surgery, is associated with higher prevalence of current mood and anxiety disorders and past mood disorders

      2018, Psychiatry Research
      Citation Excerpt :

      Current psychiatric disorders are known risk factors for other addictions and some of these psychiatric disorders can defer the indication of a bariatric surgery and such information is essential to improve cares prior to surgery. It is also essential to improve our understanding of this phenotype and to bring arguments to further the debate about including food addiction in the category of “substance-related and addictive disorders” (Meule et al., 2017; Nolan, 2017). In addition, the YFAS 2.0 required validation in a sample of patients with obesity applying for bariatric surgery, given that bariatric surgery is not equally effective in all subjects and that the factors influencing postsurgical outcomes are still unclear even if FA as measured by the previous version of the YFAS has been shown to significantly decrease after bariatric surgery (e.g., 1 year post-surgery) (Sevinçer et al., 2016).

    • An addiction perspective on eating disorders and obesity

      2018, Eating Disorders and Obesity in Children and Adolescents
    • Self-perceived food addiction: Prevalence, predictors, and prognosis

      2017, Appetite
      Citation Excerpt :

      Taken as a whole, the findings from the present studies are consistent with the concept of both YFAS-diagnosed and self-classified “food addiction” lying on a spectrum of “food misuse”, possibly characterized by loss-of-control eating. Additionally, we propose that the most extreme form of food misuse be classified as a “food use disorder” in preference to the term “food addiction” (Nolan, 2017), in line with the revised nomenclature utilized in the DSM-5. Strengths of the present studies include replication of findings in two diverse samples and follow-up data with no attrition.

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text