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W5
W5

    • Can you be addicted to food? Theory on what's fuelling North America's obesity problem gains ground

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    SOUTHAMPTON, Ont. -

    Matthew Mahon is 46 years old and fears he won鈥檛 see 50.

    鈥淭he last time I was in the hospital, all my organs were shutting down. My lungs, my heart, my kidneys, my liver. Everything was saying 鈥榮ayonara Slim鈥, we鈥檙e out of here,鈥 he told W5.

    When Matthew was last weighed, the scale tipped 760 pounds. It鈥檚 a weight he blames not on lack of willpower, but on addiction.

    鈥淚t鈥檚 the same with an alcoholic. They say 鈥榪uit drinking鈥. Not so easy. Same with a drug addict..鈥檍ust put down the drugs.鈥 It鈥檚 easier said than done.鈥

    When Matthew Mahon was last weighed, the scale tipped 760 pounds. It鈥檚 a weight he blames not on lack of willpower, but on addiction.Matthew knows a thing or two about addiction. For 14 years he was a heroin addict. He believes his drug abuse masked a food addiction that he鈥檚 had since childhood. It鈥檚 an addiction he says came back with a vengeance when he kicked heroin.

    His mother, Debi Underwood, says she worries more about Matthew now than when he was addicted to drugs; 鈥淚 have him text me everyday and say 鈥榤orning mom鈥 so I know that he鈥檚 there. It鈥檚 the same as a mother worries about a [drug addicted child]. They are going to get that dose and that鈥檒l be the last one.鈥

    The concept of food addiction is not widely accepted in mainstream medical circles. It isn鈥檛 listed as an addiction in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (). And yet there is a growing debate about whether people like Matthew have a physical addiction to food.

    is a world leader in the study of food addiction. An Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, she has created a first of its kind diagnostic tool called the . The scale mimics questionnaires used to diagnose other addictions like alcohol, tobacco and drugs.

    Dr. Ashley Gearhardt, an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, has created a first of its kind diagnostic tool called the Yale Food Addiction Scale.鈥淲e looked at the literature on how we diagnose any other addiction. And so we wanted to apply those behavioral markers of addiction to the consumption of ... highly rewarding, processed foods,鈥 Gearhardt told W5.

    The markers for food addiction include intense cravings, loss of control, inability to stop despite knowing the negative impact, and a tendency to relapse. Using that scale, Gearhardt estimates that 15 per cent of people in North America have a physical addiction to food.

    Her research has pinpointed certain types of food that, in some people, trigger addictive eating. They are: pizza, fries, cheeseburgers, chocolate, potato chips, cookies and ice cream. The common denominator is that all those foods are stripped of nutrients and then highly processed, just like other addictive substances like cigarettes.

    鈥淲e all eat nicotine in our foods. Nicotine is in potatoes and eggplants. But it鈥檚 not until you take the nicotine and strip it and add thousands of other chemicals to refine it and make it hyper rewarding that people get addicted,鈥 she said.

    Gearhardt says the same is true for highly processed fast food. She points to brain scans that show the same areas of the brain light up when eating those foods as when consuming illicit drugs.

    Critics argue that food should not be considered an addictive substance because there is no definable 鈥渉igh鈥 or withdrawal or clear risk of overdose.

    For Matthew, who has experienced drug addiction, there is no debate. When he eats, he says 鈥渋t鈥檚 like the euphoria high. It鈥檚 like I shot up with a big hit of heroin. I鈥檇 sit back in my chair, do the hit and enjoy it and I do the same thing with food.鈥

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