Oops, not so fast, there is growing evidence that food addiction is equivalent to opioid addiction which requires a rather large effort and support team to help

Oops, not so fast, there is growing evidence that food addiction is equivalent to opioid addiction which requires a rather large effort and support team to help anyone to "get off the drug". Some studies have shown addiction to sugar, fat, and overeating. Addiction at both the chemical and also mental level. You may say that getting off drugs is also a self control issue, but that is a little bit of an over simplification. A small bit of googling found these results and there seemed to be a lot of results on this topic. ----- According to researchers from Queensland University of Technology (QUT), excessive sugar consumption increases the dopamine levels in a similar way to other drugs such as cocaine. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/sugar-has-similar-effect-on-brain-as-cocaine-a6980336.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/sugar-has-similar-... The evidence supports the hypothesis that under certain circumstances rats can become sugar dependent. This may translate to some human conditions as suggested by the literature on eating disorders and obesity. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2235907/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2235907/ We propose that specific foods, especially those that are rich in fat and/or sugar, are capable of promoting “addiction”-like behavior and neuronal change under certain conditions. Such consummatory patterns have been associated with increased risk for comorbid conditions such as obesity, early weight gain, depression, anxiety, and substance abuse as well as with relapse and treatment challenges. The topic of food addiction bears study, therefore, to develop fresh approaches to clinical intervention and to advance our understanding of basic mechanisms involved in loss of control. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2714380/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2714380/ The YFAS exhibited adequate internal reliability, and showed good convergent validity with measures of similar constructs and good discriminant validity relative to related but dissimilar constructs. Additionally, the YFAS predicted binge-eating behavior above and beyond existing measures of eating pathology, demonstrating incremental validity. The YFAS is a sound tool for identifying eating patterns that are similar to behaviors seen in classic areas of addiction. Further evaluation of the scale is needed, especially due to a low response rate of 24.5% and a non-clinical sample, but confirmation of the reliability and validity of the scale has the potential to facilitate empirical research on the concept of ‘‘food addiction’’ http://fastlab.psych.lsa.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GearhardtCorbinBrownell_PreliminaryValidationYaleFoodAddictionScale_2008.pdf http://fastlab.psych.lsa.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/0...