Fat Addiction: Psychological and Physiological Trajectory

Abstract

Obesity has become a major public health concern worldwide due to its high social and economic burden, caused by its related comorbidities, impacting physical and mental health. Dietary fat is an important source of energy along with its rewarding and reinforcing properties. The nutritional recommendations for dietary fat vary from one country to another; however, the dietary reference intake (DRI) recommends not consuming more than 35% of total calories as fat. Food rich in fat is hyperpalatable, and is liable to be consumed in excess amounts. Food addiction as a concept has gained traction in recent years, as some aspects of addiction have been demonstrated for certain varieties of food. Fat addiction can be a diagnosable condition, which has similarities with the construct of addictive disorders, and is distinct from eating disorders or normal eating behaviors. Psychological vulnerabilities like attentional biases have been identified in individuals described to be having such addiction. Animal models have provided an opportunity to explore this concept in an experimental setting. This discussion sheds light on fat addiction, and explores its physiological and psychological implications. The discussion attempts to collate the emerging literature on addiction to fat rich diets as a prominent subset of food addiction. It aims at addressing the clinical relevance at the community level, the psychological correlates of such fat addiction, and the current physiological research directions.

Obesity and COVID-19: Oro-Naso-Sensory Perception

“…Before going into detail, we would like to emphasize that a reduced oro-sensory perception would trigger high consumption of palatable food, thus either leading to obesity or worsening this pathology [67,68], though we should not ignore the implication of the food addiction component, particularly for sweet food and those rich in fat [69,70]. The studies conducted on healthy and obese participants suggested that the latter group exhibited lower sensitivity than the former for sweet and sour taste [71].…”

Meeting of Minds around Food Addiction: Insights from Addiction Medicine, Nutrition, Psychology, and Neurosciences

“…In university students, symptoms of FA were in majority related to combined high-fat savory and high-fat sweet foods, and rarely for mainly sugar-containing food [ 2 ]. Concerning fat, which has its own metabolic, physiological, and nutritional profiles, human evidence is scarce and comes mostly from studies on FA: individuals with FA had higher dietary fat intake compared to those without FA; animal models suggested that fat addiction may have different mechanisms to sugar addiction [ 44 ]. Highly processed foods, with the addition of fat and/or refined carbohydrates (sugar, white flour), have drawn the most attention.…”

Food Addiction and Eating Addiction: Scientific Advances and Their Clinical, Social and Policy Implications

“…A number of recent studies have attempted to parse out the psychological and physiological etiology of food addiction. This review article by Sarkar et al [7] examines the specific role of dietary fats in compulsive overeating. They review preclinical, psychological and clinical evidence to argue for the addiction to fat rich diets as a prominent subset of food addiction.…”