Essay --

As early as 2010, 35.7% of adult Americans are obese, which is the highest level of obesity in the history of the United States. There are a number of environmental factors that contribute to obesity, the majority being the number of fast food restaurants and the recent outbreak of binge eating. Evidence shows that bingeing on sugary, tasty foods increases dopamine in the brain and in doing so possesses addictive habits. Apparently there have been several psychological and biological similarities between food addiction and drug dependence including loss of control and craving. One of the articles will look at environmental factors that might contribute to the obesity epidemic, and it will also compare the medical similarities and differences of drug dependence and food addiction. Growing rates of overweight adults and obesity have prompted the comparison between the uncontrolled intake of food and drugs. It has been smart to follow biological concepts from addiction to explore obsessive food seeking; a model is needed to understand how food and drugs differ in their ability to control behavior. Another article will look at the difference and commonalities in the behavioral responses to food and to drugs of abuse, with the goal to identify and new treatments for drug addiction or obesity. One of the articles also focuses on eating disorder behaviors and posttraumatic stress. It states that this article was the first to reveal the relationship between PTSD and the occurrence of eating types of food such as sugar sodas and fast food. It mentions that the study had articulated mechanisms and behavioral pathways of how trauma and post traumatic stress can cause an increase in the causes of death in the United Sta... ...ect the impact of food addiction understandings on obesity and obese peoples. Studies found that seemingly strong public acceptance of neurobiological clarifications of obesity and overeating can co-exist with the view that individual choice is the major cause of obesity. Obese people were more likely to support the opinion that obesity characterizes an addiction to certain foods. The apparent disappointment of neurobiological explanations of overeating and obesity to change public views toward obese people and the treatment of obesity advises that these descriptions have not yet had the beneficial influences assumed by their supporters. As the idea of food addiction is established, its supporters need to pay greater attention to its effects on shame, treatment and policy and to assessing whether its net influence on public health is likely to be harmful or helpful.