National Geographic Magazine - Food Addiction

Dr. Nicole Avena's research on food addiction was featured on the cover story of the Sept. 2017 issue of National Geographic, that included an interview with her on 'the addicted brain'.

Nicole Avena, a neuroscientist at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital in New York, has shown that rats will keep gobbling sugar if you let them, and they develop tolerance, craving, and withdrawal, just as they do when they get hooked on cocaine. She says high-fat foods and highly processed foods such as refined flour may be as problematic as sugar. Avena and researchers at the University of Michigan recently surveyed 384 adults: Ninety-two percent reported a persistent desire to eat certain foods and repeated unsuccessful attempts to stop, two hallmarks of addiction. The respondents ranked pizza—typically made with a white-flour crust and topped with sugar-laden tomato sauce—as the most addictive food, with chips and chocolate tied for second place. Avena has no doubt food addiction is real. “That’s a major reason why people struggle with obesity.”

5 Diet Fads Debunked

In Hannah Morrill's article 5 Diet Fads Debunked she attempts to separate the truth from the hype about diets.

On sugar addiction, Dr Avena says:

"It's impossible to have a healthy, sugar-free diet, so the best bet is to make sure sugar isn't the primary source of pleasure and calories. Beware of hidden sugars in things like salad dressings and sauces, don't let carbs control your eating habits. And don't be afraid of all sugar—fruit is an important source of fiber, and the fiber in fruit lowers cholesterol and glucose, and reduces blood pressure and inflammation."—Nicole M. Avena, Ph.D., author of Why Diets Fail

Gluttony: Are We Addicted to Eating?

The article Gluttony: Are we addicted to eating? discusses the role of food, over indulgence and the addictive behaviours of certain foods and it's affect on the brain. The author, Karen Schrock Simring, looks at research into how and why people become addicted to sugars and fats. She discusses Dr Nicole Avena's work into how sugar affects the brain, its addictive nature and the impact sugar cravings have on the body.

In Food Cravings, Sugar Trumps Fat

This NYT article, by Anahad O'Connor, considers the relative 'reward' properties of sugar and fat.

Researchers completed a study where they tracked brain activity of 100 high school students as they drank chocolate-flavored milkshakes that were identical in calories but either high in sugar and low in fat, or vice versa. While both kinds of shakes lit up pleasure centers in the brain, those that were high in sugar did so far more effectively, firing up a food-reward network that plays a role in compulsive eating.

While Dr Nicole Avena points out:

“The obesity epidemic and the problems with overeating don’t have too much to do with people overeating fruits and healthy foods. They have a lot to do with people overeating excess sugars and fats,” said Nicole Avena, a faculty member at the New York Obesity Research Center at Columbia University, who was not involved in the new study.

Dr. Avena said that people “can have all the willpower in the world. But if the brain reward system is being activated in a way that causes them to have a battle against their willpower, then it can be very difficult for them to control their intake.”

More in the NYT.

Milkshake anyone?

There’s A War On Sugar. Is It Justified?

In the Freakonomics Radio Episode There's a War on Sugar. Is It Justified?, Dr Nicole Avena explains her work on sugar addiction and its impact on the brain.

Some people argue that sugar should be regulated, like alcohol and tobacco, on the grounds that it’s addictive and toxic. How much sense does that make? On the show is a regulatory advocate, an evidence-based skeptic, a former FDA commissioner — and the organizers of Milktoberfest.