Are certain foods addictive?

Abstract

In a recent article (1), Dr. Rippe highlights that lifestyle medicine practitioners need to ground their recommendations on sound scientific evidence and that this is complicated by the fact that scientific information is often distorted and conjecture is sometimes confused with proof. This includes, for example, that associations between variables found in cross-sectional studies are presented as causal relationships or that associations between variables found in epidemiological studies are often confounded by important third variables. The author illustrates several examples of findings that are often misinterpreted and presented as true facts, although existing evidence needs to be critically evaluated. Those include the notions that (a) sugar causes obesity, (b) certain foods are addictive, (c) certain foods cause cancer, (d) exercise is not effective for weight loss, and that (e) there is a causal link between sugar consumption and diabetes. I think that the author makes an important point in arguing that scientific evidence often is distorted by researchers or the media and that researchers and practitioners in the field of health behaviors continuously need to take care of scrutinizing research findings. Although I agree with most of the statements made in that article, I also think that some of them on the current concept of food addiction warrant a more in-depth discussion.