Negative Emotional Side of Food Addiction

Abstract

Abstract The transition from casual drug use to addiction involves a shift from positive to negative reinforcement. This “negative emotional” shift also is implicated in food addiction. Palatable food initially elicits pleasurable, comforting effects that can mitigate stress responses. But, repeated, intermittent intake can downregulate brain reward pathways and recruit brain circuitry, yielding tolerance, negative emotional behavior when the food is not eaten, and palatable food-seeking despite aversive consequences. The results support an affective dysregulation model whereby intake becomes obligatory to prevent negative emotions, highly comorbid with addiction-like eating. Negative emotions also may trigger impulsive palatable food intake via negative urgency. Neurobiological changes associated with addiction-like eating involve several neurobiological changes implicated in substance use disorders, including corticotropin-releasing factor, hypocretin, dopamine, opioid, and endocannabinoid systems within mesolimbic dopamine, extended amygdala, and inhibitory frontal circuitry. Here, we synthesize conceptual and empirical contributions to illuminate the “negative emotional side” in food addiction.