ReviewPsychopharmacology2014
Addicted to palatable foods: comparing the neurobiology of Bulimia Nervosa to that of drug addiction.
Review in Psychopharmacology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Biomolecular correlates of incubated sucrose-seeking within ventromedial prefrontal cortex are sex- and subregion-selective.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2025Article
- Binge-type eating disorders and ultra-processed food addiction: phenomenology, pathophysiology and treatment implications.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Food addiction and its relationship with other eating behaviours among Spanish university students.Journal of eating disorders · 2023Article
- Reply to Skokou, M. Comment on "Keeler et al. Ketamine as a Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2022Review
- A literature review of dopamine in binge eating.Journal of eating disorders · 2022Review
- Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) as a Promising Treatment for Craving in Stimulant Drugs and Behavioral Addiction: A Meta-Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Review
- Circuit selectivity in drug versus natural reward seeking behaviors.Journal of neurochemistry · 2021Review
- Fructose and Uric Acid as Drivers of a Hyperactive Foraging Response: A Clue to Behavioral Disorders Associated with Impulsivity or Mania?Evolution and human behavior : official journal of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society · 2021Article
- Cocaine and sucrose rewards recruit different seeking ensembles in the nucleus accumbens core.Molecular psychiatry · 2020Article
- Separating the Signal from the Noise: How Psychiatric Diagnoses Can Help Discern Food Addiction from Dietary Restraint.Nutrients · 2020Review
- Metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 in bulimia nervosa.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Psychiatric comorbidity as a risk factor for the mortality of people with bulimia nervosa.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2019Article
- Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation significantly influences the eating behavior in depressive patients.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2019Article
- Neuromodulation in eating disorders and obesity: a promising way of treatment?Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2018Review
- Comparison of the Time-Dependent Changes in Immediate Early Gene Labeling and Spine Density Following Abstinence From Contingent or Non-contingent Chocolate Pellet Delivery.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2018Article
- The relevance of personality traits in impulsivity-related disorders: From substance use disorders and gambling disorder to bulimia nervosa.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2017Article
- Binge-Like Sucrose Self-Administration Experience Inhibits Cocaine and Sucrose Seeking Behavior in Offspring.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2017Article
- Pilot clinical observations between food and drug seeking derived from fifty cases attending an eating disorder clinic.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2016Article
- Cocaine-induced locomotor activity in rats selectively bred for low and high voluntary running behavior.Psychopharmacology · 2015Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
rationaleBulimia nervosa (BN) is highly comorbid with substance abuse and shares common phenotypic and genetic predispositions with drug addiction. Although treatments for the two disorders are similar, controversy remains about whether BN should be classified as addiction.
objectivesHere, we review the animal and human literature with the goal of assessing whether BN and drug addiction share a common neurobiology.
resultsSimilar neurobiological features are present following administration of drugs and bingeing on palatable food, especially sugar. Specifically, both disorders involve increases in extracellular dopamine (DA), D1 binding, D3 messenger RNA (mRNA), and ΔFosB in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Animal models of BN reveal increases in ventral tegmental area (VTA) DA and enzymes involved in DA synthesis that resemble changes observed after exposure to addictive drugs. Additionally, alterations in the expression of glutamate receptors and prefrontal cortex activity present in human BN or following sugar bingeing in animals are comparable to the effects of addictive drugs. The two disorders differ in regards to alterations in NAc D2 binding, VTA DAT mRNA expression, and the efficacy of drugs targeting glutamate to treat these disorders.
conclusionsAlthough additional empirical studies are necessary, the synthesis of the two bodies of research presented here suggests that BN shares many neurobiological features with drug addiction. While few Food and Drug Administration-approved options currently exist for the treatment of drug addiction, pharmacotherapies developed in the future, which target the glutamate, DA, and opioid systems, may be beneficial for the treatment of both BN and drug addiction.
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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.