Exploring Food Addiction

Under my supervision and in collaboration with Dr. Kelly Brownell, one of my graduate students, Ashley Gearhardt has begun developing a program of research on food addiction. There is now considerable research suggesting that food and drugs of abuse work through similar reward pathways (Hoebel, Rada, Mark, & Pothos, 1999; Volkow et al., 2002), and many of the symptoms associated with excessive food consumption parallel diagnostic symptoms of substance dependence (Gold, Frost-Pineda, & Jacobs, 2003). Ashley has initiated two studies to empirically evaluate the food addiction hypothesis. One study involves the development of a new measure of food dependence. We currently have data from a sample of undergraduate students and our analyses indicate that scores on the scale are strongly related to binge eating and overall levels of eating pathology. Data collection with a clinical population is currently under way. The second research direction was motivated by findings from the longitudinal college data. The high levels of risk during college among heavy drinking incoming freshman suggest that intervening with this group is of paramount importance. I have been in discussions with both health care providers and university administrators in an effort to initiate new prevention programs targeting this group. I believe these new projects will expand the scope of my work, while maintaining my focus on understanding and ameliorating the negative consequences of alcohol use and other behavioral risks in young adults.