ArticleObesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity2013
Is food addiction a valid and useful concept?
Article in Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 96 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
96 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Prevalence of food addiction in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2021Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of the Application And Correlates of YFAS-Diagnosed 'Food Addiction' in Humans: Are Eating-Related 'Addictions' a Cause for Concern or Empty Concepts?Obesity facts · 2015Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The effects of response inhibition training following binge memory retrieval in young adults binge eaters: a randomised-controlled experimental study.Scientific reports · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Dysregulated eating behaviour and microbiota-based interventions targeting eating disorders and food addiction.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- The neural pathways of change: an fMRI study of the effects of behavioral change suggestions on value-based dietary decision-making.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2026Observational
- Neurobiological Consequences of High-Fat High-Sugar Diets on the Mesocorticolimbic System: a Narrative Review.Current nutrition reports · 2026Review
- Review
- Are Nesfatin-1, Apelin, Chemerin, Omentin-1, and Resistin Hormone Levels Comparable in Individuals with Opioid Use Disorder and Obesity?Journal of clinical practice and research · 2025Article
- Food addiction and its associations with mental and physical health comorbidities and with quality of life in the general population.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- Abstinence-based treatment of comorbid eating disorders and ultra-processed food addiction.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Similarities and Differences in Diagnostic Scales.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2025Article
- The burden of overweight/obesity and weight-related behaviors attributable to food addiction in emerging adults.Appetite · 2024Observational
- Psychometric Properties of the Dimensional Yale Food Addiction Scale for Children 2.0 among Portuguese Adolescents.Nutrients · 2024Article
- Pavlovian-instrumental transfer effects in individuals with binge eating.Journal of eating disorders · 2023Article
- Evaluating Bidirectional Predictive Pathways between Dietary Restraint and Food Addiction in Adolescents.Nutrients · 2023Article
- Linking drug and food addiction: an overview of the shared neural circuits and behavioral phenotype.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2023Review
- Features of Addiction in Binge-Eating Disorder: Considerations for Screening and Treatment.Substance abuse and rehabilitation · 2023Review
- Article
36 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Comment on
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
In this paper, we consider the concept of food addiction from a clinical and neuroscientific perspective. Food addiction has an established and growing currency in the context of models of overeating and obesity, and its acceptance shapes debate and research. However, we argue that the evidence for its existence in humans is actually rather limited and, in addition, there are fundamental theoretical difficulties that require consideration. We therefore review food addiction as a phenotypic description, one that is based on overlap between certain eating behaviours and substance dependence. To begin, we consider limitations in the general application of this concept to obesity. We share the widely held view that such a broad perspective is not sustainable and consider a more focused view: that it underlies particular eating patterns, notably binge eating. However, even with this more specific focus, there are still problems. Validation of food addiction at the neurobiological level is absolutely critical, but there are inconsistencies in the evidence from humans suggesting that caution should be exercised in accepting food addiction as a valid concept. We argue the current evidence is preliminary and suggest directions for future work that may provide more useful tests of the concept.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.