Impulsive Personalities Prone to Food Addiction, Study Suggests

People with impulsive personalities are more likely to report food addiction, according to new research in the journal Appetite.

Researchers from the University of Georgia report that the same sort of impulsive behavior that leads to alcohol and drug abuse can also lead to an unhealthy relationship with food.

The researchers contend that food addiction is a compulsive behavior that is similar to drug addiction and can lead to health-related risks such as obesity.

"The notion of food addiction is a very new one, and one that has generated a lot of interest," said lead study author James MacKillop, an associate professor of psychology at UGA. "My lab generally studies alcohol, nicotine and other forms of drug addiction, but we think it's possible to think about impulsivity, food addiction and obesity using some of the same techniques."

The study comes at a time when more than one-third of adults in the US are obese, a disease that puts them at greater risk for heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The researchers said they hope their discovery will lead the way to the development of treatment plans for obese individuals who have developed an addiction to food.

MacKillop said that the study does not necessarily associate impulsive behavior with obesity, but he notes that impulsive behaviors can lead to food addiction, which can be linked to obesity. A person who exhibits impulsive behavior will not necessarily become obese, the researchers said. But an increase in certain impulsive behaviors can lead to food addiction, which was a driving factor in the high body mass index exhibited by many of the participants in the study.

Many of the commercially available food items in America, especially choices at fast food restaurants, are loaded with fat, sodium, sugar and other flavorful additives and appear to produce cravings much like illicit drugs, MacKillop said.

The intense cravings these unhealthy food items trigger may play a role in the development of obesity.

"Modern neuroscience has helped us understand how substances like drugs and alcohol co-opt areas of the brain that evolved to release dopamine and create a sense of happiness or satisfaction," MacKillop said. "And now we realize that certain types of food also hijack these brain circuits and lay the foundation for compulsive eating habits that are similar to drug addiction."