Obesity as a Condition Determined by Food Addiction: Should Brain Endocannabinoid System Alterations Be the Cause and Its Modulation the Solution?

Marialuisa De Ceglia,Fernando Rodríguez De Fonseca,Silvana Gaetani,Juan Decara

doi:10.3390/ph14101002

Abstract

Obesity is a complex disorder, and the number of people affected is growing every day. In recent years, research has confirmed the hypothesis that food addiction is a determining factor in obesity. Food addiction is a behavioral disorder characterized by disruptions in the reward system in response to hedonic eating. The endocannabinoid system (ECS) plays an important role in the central and peripheral control of food intake and reward-related behaviors. Moreover, both obesity and food addiction have been linked to impairments in the ECS function in various brain regions integrating peripheral metabolic signals and modulating appetite. For these reasons, targeting the ECS could be a valid pharmacological therapy for these pathologies. However, targeting the cannabinoid receptors with inverse agonists failed when used in clinical contexts as a consequence of the induction of affective disorders. In this context, new classes of drugs acting either on CB1 and/or CB2 receptors or on synthetic and degradation enzymes of endogenous cannabinoids are being studied. However, further investigation is necessary to find safe and effective treatments that can exert anti-obesity effects, normalizing reward-related behaviors without causing important adverse mood effects.

Highlights

At the time of writing, the number of obese people in the world is estimated to be around 2.1 billion, which represents 30% of the total adult population [1]
Public awareness campaigns were initiated to sensitize policy-makers, private sector partners, medical professionals, and the public at large, but they did not result in effective actions or in slowing the diffusion of the pathology
The aim of this review is to summarize the recent evidence published about food addiction and its physiopathology and to report the latest studies about the role of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) in both obesity and food addiction, with a particular focus on the brainperiphery interaction

Summary

Introduction

At the time of writing, the number of obese people in the world is estimated to be around 2.1 billion, which represents 30% of the total adult population [1]. The obesity epidemic spread, in industrialized societies and in developing countries, transforming into a worldwide concern [2]. Obesity is a chronic pathology, and managing it is a long-term or life-long process [3]

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