What is it about?

"PROCESSED" Food addiction is becoming more apparent to be similar to alcoholism and drug Addiction - a biochemical disease. This research highlights psychological distress among people with t2d was associated with the FA model, apparently more so than BMI. Moreover the FA model may be beneficial when addressing treatment approaches for psychological distress among people with t2d.

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Why is it important?

This is novel and innovative research highlighting a strong association between processed food addiction, depression, anxiety and stress among people with type 2 diabetes. Future research may continue to expand on this association and be a segway into treating a proportion of people with type 2 diabetes who are 'unable to stick to their diet' due to an addiction process underlying their powerlessness over processed foods (sugar, flour and wheat products).

Perspectives

Personally and professionally working in the addiction arena as a clinician and researcher, seeing results like this inspires me to keep researching in the 'under-researched' clinical population of potential processed food addicts in society today. This research may explain why a sub-group of people are unable to control their intake of processed foods - foods which they see society as a whole ingesting with impunity. This population is not weak-willed, gluttonous or hopeless, more to the point they are trying to ingest a substance (processed foods) which sparks off a phenomenon of craving similar too alcohol to an alcoholic, and drugs to a drug addict. This could be an epoch in the annals of addiction..... following in the footsteps of 'tobacco' as a substance use disorder.

Mrs Karren-lee Raymond
University of the Sunshine Coast

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Food addiction associations with psychological distress among people with type 2 diabetes, Journal of Diabetes and its Complications, May 2016, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.jdiacomp.2016.01.020.
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