Talk:Food addiction

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Rosmeryl, Aziza232.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 21:21, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Sl2763.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 21:35, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

article needs improvement
This article recently had its title changed, but the article hasn't been altered to take this into account, this article is almost entirely about binge eating, not food addiction, and while the two are closely related, this article could use more information about addiction and less about compulsive overeating. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Aguyintobooks (talk • contribs) 23:33, 31 July 2015 (UTC)

Accidentally edited before coming to talk page
Hello, my name is Dimitri, I am an undergraduate psychology student working on an assignment to contribute something to the world of wikipedia. I find compulsive overeating very interesting.

I went ahead and edited this... "Compulsive overeaters tend to show brain changes similar to those of drug addicts, a result of excessive consumption of highly processed foods. [5]" under the food addiction portion. Please let me know what your thoughts are and what I should change.

Thank you for your time,

Dimitrios Kampouris - Dkampouris

Sorry,i wont so it agian, sorry.

Although we are a rather localised charity I would hope that the information provided by the site would be useful to a much wider audience.

I appreciate that others may remove the listing if they don't feel that it's appropriate to be included here but I thought that I'd post in up just in case and have also done so in a few other eating disorder related articles.

I hope that this is ok. Feel free to email me if there's a problem (contact details are on the website).

With Kind Regards Paul

This is an interesting discussion of compulsive overeating with links to recovery resources, but it would be stronger if appropriately referenced. I see no documentation here, even when quoting per centages of people who recover, or origins of the disorder. --BirdsongMeadow 22:29, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

other food addictions
Behavior includes excessive weighing, excessive measuring of body parts, and persistently using a mirror to check body size. Self-esteem is dependent upon body shape and weight. Weight loss is viewed as an impressive achievement and an example of extraordinary self discipline.
 * Anorexia Nervosa is characterized by intense fear of gaining weight.

80-90% of bulimics will induce vomiting. Other behaviors include, misuse of laxatives, fasting and excessive exercise. Saaraleigh 02:13, 22 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Bulimia Nervosa is described as binge eating and compensatory behavior to prevent weight gain. Individuals become ashamed of their eating behavior and attempt to conceal symptoms through rapid consumption of food. They will eat until painfully full and stop if intruded upon.

Requested move
I am going to move this article to Compulsive Overeating (currently redirect to Binge eating disorder), as this article is about a disorder - not people who have said disorder. - Bennyboyz3000 01:32, 16 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I just came across this page, and noticed its nonstandard title. I have listed this page on Requested moves. szyslak  11:18, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

This article has been renamed as the result of a move request. --Stemonitis 11:48, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Reflst/External Links order
I know this is pedantic and very OCD of me, but I really hate it when the reflist is before the external links. In academic papers references usually appear at the very end, so I think wikipedia articles should be the same way. I'm going to switch it back. If you really want it the other way, I won't complain anymore, I'll just have to do some kind of bizarre OCD ritual to cope. :) — Craigtalbert 08:22, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

Poorly written
I think this article looks like it was written by an undergraduate psychology student. It uses a lot of absolute statements regarding neurochemical reward mechanisms and simply disregards the human ability to learn from negative consequences of his or her behavioral patterns. It is possible for a healthy brain to structure a long term reward mechanism resulting in long term behavioral enforcement, it doesnt only have to be short term neurochemical reward processes that dictate our behavioral patterns.69.244.183.157 (talk) 14:14, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

This comment seems to be from someone who is unfamiliar with the nature of addiction. Yes, a person with healthy brain can stop taking an addictive substance. I have heard the statistic that amongst heroin users only about 20% become true addicts. Similarly, most people who drink alcohol do not become alcoholics -- and most people who eat food, even who overeat food, do not become food addicts/compulsive overeaters. BUT an addict is *not* someone with a healthy brain. There is something decidedly abnormal about not being able to stop eating even when one is full, even when one is nauseated or involuntarily vomitting from overeating, even when one is overweight, even when one is suffering from life-threatening obesity-related diseases. No one is claiming that people with this disease have healthy brains, any more than a person with Giles de la Tourrette Syndrome or OCD and therefore engages in involuntary behavior has a healthy brain. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.167.163.109 (talk) 03:23, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

I completely agree that this article is badly written. It's also full of inaccuracies and very incomplete. I tried to fix it, but a college-student editor removed ALL my edits because I committed the grave sin of pointing to my own Web site. He could have just removed the link to my site, but nooooo. He had to completely waste my time, and I'm not going to waste more of it by trying again to edit it. Yes, I have expertise in this area because I have a graduate degree in counseling, I've written a book on the subject, and I host an online support group for compulsive overeaters (normaleating.com). That should not disqualify me from commenting on the subject!! Lunacy. Anyone curious why the quality of some Wikipedia articles is low? This is why. Scanter (talk) 20:43, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

specific hormones
Why not mention hormones like ghrelin, leptin, and obestatin? Aren't there studies that link them to emotional eating? -- 213.6.9.77 (talk) 10:10, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Something wrong here
This article states,without support, that 80% of sufferers can recover with professional help. I contest this. Psychiatry and counseling are notoriously ineffective against addiction.

I edited it
but this is my first time and I edited it mainly because I cringe whenever someone misspells bingeing by leaving the e out. I was compelled to join Wikipedia just for this article which I came across by accident. The statement that 80% recover is totally fallacious and I cited another statistic albeit about morbidly obese sufferers and not necessarily about all compulsive eaters. I do not think this article should be merged w that of binge eating disorder necessarily because there is the difference of grazing behaviors. I do however think they should be linked. I do not think this article should be merged w that of eating disorders either because the DSM-IV-T is not considering adding this as a definition of a type of eating disorder. It is however, considering adding Binge Eating Disorder (BED). JoyMourning (talk) 00:43, 27 January 2009 (UTC)JoyMourning

and i cringe whenever someone shorts 'with' to 'w'. i understand that you have just had a lecture on 'binge eating' and now are eager to share that with the world. but how about you let the professionals handle this? some of the other contributors might have *written* the lecture you just listened to

Dental sources
I've reverted 's edits to compulsive overeating for three reasons. First, the references don't work. You'll want to use the preview feature before you add them to make sure they work. Second, they don't have to do with the thrust of the article. Nothing in the article is about dentists, so the references don't make sense. Third, they appear to be there for the primary purpose of promotion Dr. Rothstein's article, which is an inappropriate use of Wikipedia for promotion. Agtx (talk) 23:02, 10 May 2015 (UTC)

needs major improvement
I have done some work to the article, but I feel it needs rewriting to better include phyiscal problems caused by what is effectively a mental illness, I think someone with a working knowledge of this field should try to add more depth to this issue. I also think that it needs more trusted sources for verification 'such as research by a medical journal etc' — Preceding unsigned comment added by Aguyintobooks (talk • contribs) 23:26, 31 July 2015 (UTC)

New review
There's a new review and special supplement issue out at I've only seen the abstract, but it looks like the article would be useful here. LeadSongDog come howl!  15:43, 13 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I'll take a look once I get it from WP:RX.  Seppi  333  (Insert 2¢) 16:23, 13 April 2016 (UTC)

Palatability
The article currently links palatability in the lead sentence, with a parenthetical high-fat and sugary reference. The compulsive consumption behavior reflects unsatisfied hunger and a lack of appropriate foods to satiate the appetite. Nutritionists find vitamins, lipids, or proteins short in uptake to advise improved diet. Rather than the amount of food, it is the food selection which matters. On April 26 and July 31, 2015 the following was put in the article (and soon reverted):
 * If foods consumed are not meeting dietary needs such as protein, lipids or vitamins, there will be a drive to keep eating until adequate nutrition is found. Shopping in supermarkets, it may be confusing to assemble meals with full nutritional substance, since, for instance, many processed foods appeal to an appetite for sweetness. The remedy with whole foods has been described as follows:
 * Kicking sugar and white flour and substituting whole grains, vegetables, and natural fruits, in season, is the core of any sensible natural regime. Changing the quality of your carbohydrates can change the quality of your health and life. If you eat natural food of good quality, quantity tends to take care of itself. Nobody is going to eat a half dozen sugar beets or a whole case of sugar cane.

The contribution is re-posted here to contribute to improvements to this article. — Rgdboer (talk) 21:40, 9 August 2018 (UTC)

This is a well written piece of paper, i suggest adding more about how or why people become addicted to food. (hazelrod2) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hazelrod2 (talk • contribs) 04:19, 8 November 2018 (UTC)

Why is this called a "behavioral addiction" and not a substance or chemical addiction?
Food (specifically, junk food) is a substance that releases dopamine in the brain in the same way that hard drugs do for people who are affected by food addiction.

Overeating is a behavior, but so is ingesting traditional drugs. I think food addiction should be reclassified as a substance or chemical addiction. 174.233.17.28 (talk) 04:24, 7 September 2022 (UTC)

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