Researchers Say Food Addiction Exists

By Vishakha Sonawane | Jun 14, 2014 05:14 AM EDT

A new research suggests that food addiction actually exists.

Researchers at the University of Luxembourg conducted a food-related psychology test and found that food addicts lack psychological inhibition. The study also revealed that women with weight issues were more impulsive than their average counterparts.

Apart from lack of contemplative will power, the study - involving images - showed that the addicts were more stimulated by pictures of food.

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"All addictions are similar in that the sufferer craves to excess the feel-good buzz they receive from chemical neurotransmitters produced when they eat, gamble, smoke, have sex or take drugs," said lead researcher Claus Voegele, Professor of Clinical and Health Psychology at the University of Luxembourg, in a press release.

For the study, the researchers randomly flashed photos - of fatty or sweet food items such as a burger, cake and pizza and non-food items like a sock, a mug, a shoe - on the computer screens of the subjects. Participants were told to click as fast as possible on pictures of either food items or non-food items.

After the study, the research team found that women with weight problems performed significantly worse than others.

Moreover, most women with weight issues reported that the test made them crave for food. This was true despite how recently they had eaten.

"This suggests that some people may have an instinctive, psychological predisposition to binge eating," Voegele said.

"People may over-eat to comfort themselves, because they are bored or just out of habit," he concluded.

The findings are published in the journal "Frontiers in Psychology".