Lifestyle /
Food Addiction Is A Disease
Medical Doctors And Addiction Experts Speak Out On Food Addiction
Do you always end up eating more food than you planned? Do you keep on eating certain types of food even if you're no longer hungry? Do you eat to the point of falling ill? Do you worry about not being able to eat certain types of food? When certain foods aren't available, do you go out of your way to buy them?
These are some of the questions that researchers at Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity have developed in a list of symptoms that can help identify if you show signs of food addiction.
Food addiction is, quite simply, being addicted to junk food in the same way as drug addicts are addicted to drugs. It involves the same areas in the brain, the same neurotransmitters and many of the symptoms are identical.
Food addiction is a relatively new (and controversial) term and there are no good statistics available on how common it is.
There are 533,649,594 obese people globally. Highly palatable foods that are rich in salt, sugar and fat are the devious culprits behind the worldwide obesity epidemic.
Recently, sugar has also been called the “new” tobacco. Carly Weeks of The Globe and Mail has observed that the South Asian population in Canada is more at risk of health problems after putting on weight than other ethnicities, based on new Canadian research. A study discovered that South Asians are more likely to develop diabetes and cardiovascular diseases than white populations — even if they have similar BMIs. The South Asian population, according to the study, stores more fat inside the abdomen, along the liver and other organs, which can create metabolic problems. As a result, South Asians face an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, stroke or heart disease.
The reason why South Asians store more fat in their abdomen and other organs than Caucasians is still unclear. But Dr. Sonia Anand — the lead author of the study and professor of medicine and epidemiology at McMaster University in Hamilton — says, “It's the major health concern of South Asians globally as well as in Canada.” Dr. Anand's study compared 108 healthy South Asians and Caucasians of the same age, grouped according to similar weight. Some theories suggest that other factors in increasing obesity in the South Asian population could be genetic makeup or simply Western diet — which tends to be based on heavy fat, processed foods and simple carbohydrates (but this theory is controversial).
Dr. Vera Tarman, MD, is the author of the new book Food Junkies. She says, “Sugar shares the same neurochemistry and neural pathways as cocaine … People can get addicted to sugar and flour, eventually becoming as sick and depressed as … any alcoholic or drug addict. This book urges us to see the impact of what we eat, so that we can alter the course of this condition before more people are affected.”
If you or any one else near you is addicted to food, seek help and talk to your doctor.
Featured Image of Batha, food shop : themuslimtimes.org
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