Researchers Discuss Tools for Assessing Food Addiction
A research article examining the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) and
Palatable Motives Eating Scale (PEMS) has concluded that together
these tools “offer a rigorous way to evaluate whether an addictive process
contributes to certain eating disorders, such as obesity and binge eating.”
Jose Manuel Lerma-Cabrera, et al., “Food addiction as a new piece of
the obesity framework,” Nutrition Journal, January 2016. Summarizing
various “food addiction” studies, the authors posit that these models
suggest “certain highly processed foods can have a high addictive
potential and may be responsible for some cases of obesity and eating
disorders.”
In particular, the article notes that despite the evidence for food addiction,
“it is highly unlikely that all foods have addictive potential.” It
claims that manufacturers “have designed processed foods by adding
sugar, salt, or fat, which can maximize the reinforcing properties of traditional
foods (fruits, vegetables). The high palatability (hedonic value)
that this kind of processed food offers, prompts subjects to eat more.
Thus, certain processed food may have a high addictive potential and be
responsible for some eating disorders such as obesity.”
To better assess individuals who exhibit compulsive overeating when
exposed to highly palatable foods, the authors recommend using both
YFAS and PEMS to design personalized obesity treatments that target
psychological and behavioral factors as well as biological ones.
Using criteria modeled on “the symptoms of substance dependence as
outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
IV,” YFAS seeks to identify individual personality traits associated
with impulsivity as well as signs of “dependence” on certain foods. By
comparison, PEMS attempts to detect “motives for eating tasty foods,”
such as eating for social reasons; as a coping mechanism or reward; or to
conform with expectations.
“While the YFAS probes the consequences of consuming highly palatable
foods, the PEMS probes the motives for such consumption,” the authors
explain. “It is known that some cases of excessive food intake do not
respond to physiological needs but to a psychological behavioral component
that needs to be identified. Finding this component would allow
the inclusion of behavioral therapy among the cornerstones of obesity
treatment, thus achieving a multidisciplinary approach in accordance to
the multifactorial origin of the obesity.”
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