Are you addicted to tasty foods?

95 percent of people who lose weight through diet and exercise regain that weight within a year. Weight loss programs like Nutrisense, Jenny Craig, SlimFast and Weight Watchers are veritable gold mines because people return to them again and again after their long-term weight control programs have failed. Metabolism is tightly regulated to balance energy and nutrient needs with food intake via centers in the brain that control hunger and satiety. 69 percent of all Americans are overweight or obese, which means the system is not working as it should. Many people are downright addicted to food.

A literature review conducted by Jose Lerma Cabrera and colleagues from the Universidad Autonoma de Chile in Santiag, Chile, found that tasty foods are more addictive than drugs circulating on the street. These foods increase dopamine levels in the brain. Dopamine is a stimulant that causes cravings and obessive thoughts. Chronic dopamine stimulation upsets the balance between hunger and satiety, leading to overeating - regardless of the negative consequences. People cannot restrict themselves even if they want to. In principle, addiction is not immediately considered precarious. In combination with a protein-rich diet and sufficient exercise, the consumption of tasty foods is completely harmless, Chilean nutritionists recommend.

Just like drug addiction, food addiction is a serious and difficult problem for which there is no simple solution.

(Nutrition Journal, 15: 5, 2016)