Abstract
Impulsivity refers to a tendency to act rapidly without full consideration of consequences. The trait is thought to result from the interaction between high arousal responses to potential rewards and poor self-control. Studies have suggested that impulsivity confers vulnerability to both addiction and obesity. However, results in this area are unclear, perhaps due to the high phenotypic complexity of addictions and obesity. Focusing on impulsivity, the aim of this review is to tackle the putative overlaps between addiction and obesity in four domains: (1) personality research, (2) neurocognitive tasks, (3) brain imaging, and (4) clinical evidence. We suggest that three impulsivity-related domains are particularly relevant for our understanding of similarities between addiction and obesity: lower self-control (high Disinhibition/low Conscientiousness), reward sensitivity (high Extraversion/Positive Emotionality), and negative affect (high Neuroticism/Negative Emotionality). Neurocognitive studies have shown that obesity and addiction are both associated with increased impulsive decision-making and attention bias in response to drug or food cues, respectively. Mirroring this, obesity and different forms of addiction seem to exhibit similar alterations in functional MRI brain activity in response to reward processing and during self-control tasks. Overall, our review provides an integrative approach to understand those facets of obesity that present similarities to addictive behaviors. In addition, we suggest that therapeutic interventions targeting inhibitory control may represent a promising approach for the prevention and/or treatment of obesity.
Highlights
Obesity and addiction are complex and heterogeneous conditions at the intersection of biology and mental health
Three interconnected brain systems control food intake and eating behavior: [1] the hypothalamus, which responds to internal energy-balance signals, [2] the limbic system [amygdala/hippocampus, insula, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and striatum], which is involved in learning and memory and
Considering that some neurobehavioral characteristics that confer vulnerability to addiction may represent risk factors for obesity, this review is aimed at tackling the following question: is the impulsive and poor self-control phenotype identified in drug addiction present in obesity? The sections review the evidence in terms of personality, neurocognitive tasks, neuroimaging, and clinical evidence
Summary
Studies have suggested that impulsivity confers vulnerability to both addiction and obesity. The aim of this review is to tackle the putative overlaps between addiction and obesity in four domains: [1] personality research, [2] neurocognitive tasks, [3] brain imaging, and [4] clinical evidence. We suggest that three impulsivity-related domains are relevant for our understanding of similarities between addiction and obesity: lower self-control (high Disinhibition/low Conscientiousness), reward sensitivity (high Extraversion/Positive Emotionality), and negative affect (high Neuroticism/Negative Emotionality). Obesity and different forms of addiction seem to exhibit similar alterations in functional MRI brain activity in response to reward processing and during self-control tasks.
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