A literature review of the neurobiological and behavioral substrates of food addiction Food Addiction
International Journal of Medical Toxicology and Forensic Medicine,
Vol. 16 (2026),
29 December 2025
,
Page 1-8
https://doi.org/10.22037/ijmtfm.v16.51143
Abstract
Background: Food addiction (FA) is a multifaceted behavioral disorder involving an uncontrollable craving for high-calorie, palatable foods. FA plays an important role in threatening public health. The purpose of this literature review is to systematically examine the multifaceted nature of FA by elucidating the neurobiological, psychological, and environmental factors involved.
Methods: This literature review adhered to PRISMA guidelines and searched international databases, including PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, IranDoc, Civilica, and SID, from 2014 to July 2025. Fourteen high-quality studies that met the inclusion criteria were identified using relevant keywords.
Results: Three main drivers of key pathophysiological mechanisms in FA have been identified: hormonal dysregulation, impaired inhibitory control, and reward system dysregulation. Two emerging research areas have also been identified: genetic and epigenetic factors and dysregulation of the gut-brain axis. Factors influencing the development of FA include individual, sociocultural, neurobiological, and cognitive factors.
Conclusion: Managing FA requires an interdisciplinary approach targeting its behavioral and biological components. Effective prevention is a public health imperative that depends on a three-pronged strategy of public education, improved food policies, and healthier environments. This integrated approach, which spans subject treatment and population-level intervention, is essential to mitigating the incidence and societal burden of the disorder.
- Food Addiction, Obesity, Dopamine, Behavioral Addiction, Gut-Brain Axis
How to Cite
References
[1] Guerrin CG, Heinz A, Deserno L, Smolka MN, Kobiella A, Wüstenberg T, et al. Precision medicine in substance use disorders: Integrating behavioral, environmental, and biological insights. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2025;176:106311. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.106311]
[2] Su H, Zhou M, Zhang Y, Wang X, Li Y, Chen L, et al. Understanding the shift to compulsion in addiction: Insights from personality traits, social factors, and neurobiology. Front Psychol. 2024;15:1416222. [DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1416222]
[3] Mohseni F, Behnam SG, Rafaiee R, Alavi A, Zare N, Sharifi F, et al. The help seeking sex addicted patients increase in iran: a report from iran’s sexaholics anonymous. Iran J Public Health. 2021;50(10):2155. [DOI: 10.18502/ijph.v50i10.6672]
[4] Mokhtarpoor H, Ziapour A, Kianipour N, Safari R, Alidosti M, Ghafari R, et al. Explaining the causes and motivations for multiple substance use from the perspectives of users and therapists: A qualitative study. Heliyon. 2024;10(23):e40620. [DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e40620]
[5] Valentino RJ, Nair SG, Volkow ND, Koob GF, Sinha R, Shaham Y, et al. Neuroscience in addiction research. J Neural Transm (Vienna). 2024;131(5):453-9. [DOI: 10.1007/s00702-024-02672-0]
[6] Gaspar-Pérez A, Jiménez-Murcia S, Granero R, Sánchez I, Riesco N, Mestre-Bach G, et al. Exploring food addiction across several behavioral addictions: Analysis of clinical relevance. Nutrients. 2025;17(7):1279. [DOI: 10.3390/nu17071279]
[7] Karamizadeh M, Sayehmiri F, Sayehmiri K, Sani M, Delpisheh A, Almasi-Hashiani A, et al. Association between hedonic hunger and food addiction: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2025;35(6):103900. [DOI: 10.1016/j.numecd.2025.103900]
[8] Kalon E, Potenza MN, Gearhardt AN, Davis C, Le Grange D, Schmitz F, et al. Psychological and neurobiological correlates of food addiction. Int Rev Neurobiol. 2016;129:85-110. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.irn.2015.09.001]
[9] Hascher S, Ossmy O, Pontes HM, Brand M, Müller A, Lengler S, et al. Systematic literature review on psychological treatment methods for Substance use Disorder and food addiction. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2025:1-34. [DOI: 10.1007/s11469-025-02597-9]
[10] Gordon EL, Avena NM, Davis C, Gearhardt AN, Hebebrand J, Volkow ND, et al. What is the evidence for “food addiction?” A systematic review. Nutrients. 2018;10(4):477. [DOI: 10.3390/nu10040477]
[11] Zielińska M, Misiarz M, Sudoł-Szopińska I, Cieslak E, Kowalska J, Wróbel E, et al. Food addiction and the physical and mental health status of adults with overweight and obesity. PeerJ. 2024;12:e17639. [DOI: 10.7717/peerj.17639]
[12] Raymond KL, Kannis-Dymand L, Lovell GP, Byrne SM, Hills AP, Wallman KE, et al. A graduated food addiction classifications approach significantly differentiates depression, anxiety and stress among people with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2017;132:95-101. [DOI: 10.1016/j.diabres.2017.08.009]
[13] Ravichandran S, Hwang IC, Thomas BP, Kim K, Lee JH, Lee H, et al. Alterations in reward network functional connectivity are associated with increased food addiction in obese individuals. Sci Rep. 2021;11(1):3386. [DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-82848-9]
[14] Davis AA, Edge PJ, Gold MS, Corwin RL, Avena NM, Kessler RM, et al. New directions in the pharmacological treatment of food addiction, overeating, and obesity. In: Behavioral Addictions. Elsevier; 2014. p. 185-213. [DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-407724-8.00009-9]
[15] Blumenthal DM, Gold MS, Avena NM, Rissman M, Stice E, Corwin RL, et al. Neurobiology of food addiction. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2010;13(4):359-65. [DOI: 10.1097/MCO.0b013e32833c4b28]
[16] Valbrun LP, Zvonarev V, McElroy SL, Hudson JI, Mitchell JE, Crow SJ, et al. The opioid system and food intake: use of opiate antagonists in treatment of binge eating disorder and abnormal eating behavior. J Clin Med Res. 2020;12(2):41. [DOI: 10.14740/jocmr4036]
[17] Samulėnaitė S, Grosse J, Burokas A, Meunier J, Moloney RD, Clarke G, et al. Gut microbiota signatures of vulnerability to food addiction in mice and humans. Gut. 2024;73(11):1799-815. [DOI: 10.1136/gutjnl-2023-331025]
[18] Roth CL, Enriori PJ, Hinney A, Hebebrand J, Reinehr T, Müller TD, et al. Association analyses for dopamine receptor gene polymorphisms and weight status in a longitudinal analysis in obese children before and after lifestyle intervention. BMC Pediatr. 2013;13(1):197. [DOI: 10.1186/1471-2431-13-197]
[19] Pape M, Müller A, Hilbert A, de Zwaan M, Blechert J, Schmidt R, et al. Food Addiction in Individuals With Overweight and Obesity Undergoing a 12‐Week Long Tailored mHealth Weight Loss Intervention. Eur Eat Disord Rev. 2025. [DOI: 10.1002/erv.3135]
[20] Açik M, Ülger TG, Yildiz M, Kucukgoncu S, Demir B, Tekin A, et al. Understanding food addiction through the lens of psychological well-being, self-control, and eating behavior: a cross-sectional study. J Eat Disord. 2025;13(1):253. [DOI: 10.1186/s40337-025-01134-8]
[21] Vidmar AP, Sato AF, Williams NA, Jelalian E, Hart CN, Raynor HA, et al. An addiction model‐based mobile health weight loss intervention in adolescents with obesity. Pediatr Obes. 2019;14(2):e12464. [DOI: 10.1111/ijpo.12464]
[22] Cleo G, Isbell L, Hartmann-Boyce J, Jebb SA, Aveyard P, Piernas C, et al. Habit-based interventions for weight loss maintenance in adults with overweight and obesity: a randomized controlled trial. Int J Obes (Lond). 2019;43(2):374-83. [DOI: 10.1038/s41366-018-0191-6]
[23] de Ceglia M, Di Marzo V, Cota D, Piscitelli F, D'Addario C, Maccarrone M, et al. Obesity as a condition determined by food addiction: Should brain endocannabinoid system alterations be the cause and its modulation the solution? Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2021;14(10):1002. [DOI: 10.3390/ph14101002]
[24] Schulte EM, Chao AM, Allison KC, Gearhardt AN, Wisse B, Lowe MR, et al. Advances in the neurobiology of food addiction. Curr Behav Neurosci Rep. 2021;8(4):103-12. [DOI: 10.1007/s40473-021-00255-9]
[25] Hughes M, Luhar H, Pennington R, O'Rourke S, O'Gorman D, O'Neill C, et al. Stress, Food Addiction and Brain: Molecular Determinants and its Neural Networks Using Omics Platform. 2020. [DOI: 10.20944/preprints202012.0186.v1]
[26] García-Blanco A, Lerma-Cabrera JM, Navarrete-Gómez M, Carvajal F, Cubero I, Thiele TE, et al. miRNA signatures associated with vulnerability to food addiction in mice and humans. J Clin Invest. 2022;132(10):e152873. [DOI: 10.1172/JCI152873]
[27] Vasiliu O, Penelo E, Granero R, Fernández-Aranda F, Agüera Z, Sánchez I, et al. Current status of evidence for a new diagnosis: food addiction-a literature review. Front Psychiatry. 2022;12:824936. [DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.824936]
[28] Camacho-Barcia L, Blanco-Gómez A, Contreras-Rodriguez J, Fernández-Real JM, Botella-Carretero JF, Tinahones FJ, et al. Metabolic, affective and neurocognitive characterization of metabolic syndrome patients with and without food addiction. Implications for weight progression. Nutrients. 2021;13(8):2779. [DOI: 10.3390/nu13082779]
[29] Saner E, Kessler R, Leehr EJ, Pfeiffer N, Rauh M, Stoll R, et al. TOWARD: a metabolic health intervention that improves food addiction and binge eating symptoms. Front Psychiatry. 2025;16:1378425. [DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1378425]
[30] Sukesh S, Prasad K, Rao M, Reddy K, Kumar S, Sharma P, et al. Association of Food Addiction With Obesity in Young Adults Belonging to Urban and Rural Populations. Cureus. 2024;16(11):e50362. [DOI: 10.7759/cureus.50362]
[31] Mutlu HH, Sargın M, Yildirim H, Kaya H, Aydin M, Demir E, et al. Food addiction prevalence and related factors among people with obesity: a hospital-based study. Ankara Med J. 2021;21(1):22-34. [DOI: 10.5505/amj.2021.02912]
[32] O’Brien KS, Puhl RM, Latner JD, Mir NA, Danielsdottir S, Carr S, et al. The effect of a food addiction explanation model for weight control and obesity on weight stigma. Nutrients. 2020;12(2):294. [DOI: 10.3390/nu12020294]
[33] Koehler A, Blechert J, de Zwaan M, Hilbert A, Müller A, Petroff D, et al. Secondary analysis of YFAS 2.0 symptom counts, impairment/distress, and food addiction severity in adults with overweight/obesity. Eat Weight Disord. 2021;26(7):2393-9. [DOI: 10.1007/s40519-021-01062-8]
[34] Sarvandani MN, Akbari ME, Sadeghi M, Dolatshahi M, Ghadiri F, Ziapour A, et al. Validation and psychological properties of the Persian version of DSM 5 yale food addiction scale 2.0 (PYFAS 2.0) in non-clinical population. Addict Health. 2022;14(3):175-84. [DOI: 10.22122/ahj.v14i3.698]
[35] Krupa H, Wierzejska R, Słabuszewska-Jóźwiak A, Jóźwiak J, Misiarz M, Zielińska M, et al. Food addiction. Brain Sci. 2024;14(10):952. [DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14100952]
- Abstract Viewed: 33 times
- PDF Downloaded: 40 times