Can you be addicted to food? Theory on what's fuelling North America's obesity problem gains ground
Matthew Mahon is 46 years old and fears he won’t see 50.
“The last time I was in the hospital, all my organs were shutting down. My lungs, my heart, my kidneys, my liver. Everything was saying ‘sayonara Slim’, we’re out of here,” he told W5.
When Matthew was last weighed, the scale tipped 760 pounds. It’s a weight he blames not on lack of willpower, but on addiction.
“It’s the same with an alcoholic. They say ‘quit drinking’. Not so easy. Same with a drug addict..’just put down the drugs.’ It’s easier said than done.”
When Matthew Mahon was last weighed, the scale tipped 760 pounds. It’s a weight he blames not on lack of willpower, but on addiction.Matthew knows a thing or two about addiction. For 14 years he was a heroin addict. He believes his drug abuse masked a food addiction that he’s had since childhood. It’s an addiction he says came back with a vengeance when he kicked heroin.
His mother, Debi Underwood, says she worries more about Matthew now than when he was addicted to drugs; “I have him text me everyday and say ‘morning mom’ so I know that he’s there. It’s the same as a mother worries about a [drug addicted child]. They are going to get that dose and that’ll be the last one.”
The concept of food addiction is not widely accepted in mainstream medical circles. It isn’t listed as an addiction in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). And yet there is a growing debate about whether people like Matthew have a physical addiction to food.
Dr. Ashley Gearhardt is a world leader in the study of food addiction. An Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, she has created a first of its kind diagnostic tool called the Yale Food Addiction Scale. The scale mimics questionnaires used to diagnose other addictions like alcohol, tobacco and drugs.
Dr. Ashley Gearhardt, an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, has created a first of its kind diagnostic tool called the Yale Food Addiction Scale.“We looked at the literature on how we diagnose any other addiction. And so we wanted to apply those behavioral markers of addiction to the consumption of ... highly rewarding, processed foods,” Gearhardt told W5.
The markers for food addiction include intense cravings, loss of control, inability to stop despite knowing the negative impact, and a tendency to relapse. Using that scale, Gearhardt estimates that 15 per cent of people in North America have a physical addiction to food.
Her research has pinpointed certain types of food that, in some people, trigger addictive eating. They are: pizza, fries, cheeseburgers, chocolate, potato chips, cookies and ice cream. The common denominator is that all those foods are stripped of nutrients and then highly processed, just like other addictive substances like cigarettes.
“We all eat nicotine in our foods. Nicotine is in potatoes and eggplants. But it’s not until you take the nicotine and strip it and add thousands of other chemicals to refine it and make it hyper rewarding that people get addicted,” she said.
Gearhardt says the same is true for highly processed fast food. She points to brain scans that show the same areas of the brain light up when eating those foods as when consuming illicit drugs.
Critics argue that food should not be considered an addictive substance because there is no definable “high” or withdrawal or clear risk of overdose.
For Matthew, who has experienced drug addiction, there is no debate. When he eats, he says “it’s like the euphoria high. It’s like I shot up with a big hit of heroin. I’d sit back in my chair, do the hit and enjoy it and I do the same thing with food.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Israel gave U.S. last-minute warning about drone attack on Iran, Italian foreign minister says at G7
The United States told the Group of Seven foreign ministers on Friday that it received 'last minute' information from Israel about a drone action in Iran, but didn't participate in the apparent attack, officials said.
After hearing thousands of last words, this hospital chaplain has advice for the living
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
'It was all my savings': Ontario woman loses $15K to fake Walmart job scam
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
Families to receive Canada Child Benefit payment on Friday
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
After COVID, WHO defines disease spread 'through air'
The World Health Organization and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time on what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer denied bail after being charged with killing Canadian couple
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
DEVELOPING G7 warns of new sanctions against Iran as world reacts to apparent Israeli drone attack
Group of Seven foreign ministers warned of new sanctions against Iran on Friday for its drone and missile attack on Israel, and urged both sides to avoid an escalation of the conflict.
BREAKING Iran fires at apparent Israeli attack drones near Isfahan air base and nuclear site
An apparent Israeli drone attack on Iran saw troops fire air defences at a major air base and a nuclear site early Friday morning near the central city of Isfahan, an assault coming in retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country.
Ottawa to force banks to call carbon rebate a carbon rebate in direct deposits
Canadian banks that refuse to identify the carbon rebate by name when doing direct deposits are forcing the government to change the law to make them do it, says Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
Local Spotlight
UBC football star turning heads in lead up to NFL draft
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Cat found on Toronto Pearson airport runway 3 days after going missing
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly on a mission: N.S. student collecting books about women in sport for school library
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Where did the gold go? Crime expert weighs in on unfolding Pearson airport heist investigation
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
Marmot in the city: New resident of North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale a 'rock star rodent'
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
Relocated seal returns to Greater Victoria after 'astonishing' 204-kilometre trek
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Ottawa barber shop steps away from Parliament Hill marks 100 years in business
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
'It was a special game': Edmonton pinball player celebrates high score and shout out from game designer
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
'How much time do we have?': 'Contamination' in Prairie groundwater identified
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.