Our expert answers 3 Questions
What are you thinking about?
I am investigating whether highly processed foods can trigger addictive processes akin to classic addictive substances like cigarettes.
Why is this interesting to you?
If highly processed foods are addictive, they may be contributing to our failure to improve diet quality, reduce obesity, and treat diet-related disease.
What are the practical implications for healthcare?
Applying an addiction framework to understand eating behavior both provides new intervention targets based on addictive mechanisms and highlights the need for policies to alter our current food environment. This is especially important for under-resourced communities (that are more likely to be communities of color), which are targeted by the food industry and experience a disproportionate burden of diet-related disease.