Today’s guest, Dr. Ashley Gearhardt, shares fascinating insights into how the food industry has engineered products to hijack our brains’ reward systems, leaving many people struggling with cravings and compulsive eating. She is a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan and developed the Yale Food Addiction Scale to assess the signs of addictive-like behavior. Current research includes work to get food addiction as a diagnosable disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).
We discuss the science behind food addiction and explore why certain foods can be as addictive as drugs like nicotine or alcohol. We also discuss the parallels between Big Tobacco and the modern food environment, and how recognizing food addiction could be a crucial step in addressing the obesity epidemic.
Topics include:
- Why identifying a single addictive substance in food is not the whole story
- How the food industry has optimized products to be hyper-palatable and addictive
- The role of dopamine in driving compulsive eating behavior
- The striking similarities between Big Tobacco’s tactics and the modern food industry
- Why acknowledging food addiction could be a game-changer for public health policy
