一项新研究表明，纠结着拒绝吃巧克力、法式炸薯条或其他垃圾食品的人并非意志力薄弱，而是存在某种内在性的问题：事实上他们可能真的对这些食物有瘾。
研究人员利用高科技扫描技术对病态饮食者和正常人的脑部进行观察发现，在前者面前拿出一份奶昔，就好像在酗酒者面前晃动一瓶冰镇啤酒一样。
以往的研究结果显示，食物照片可以令脑部“奖赏中枢”活跃，与烈酒照片对酗酒者的效果很类似。耶鲁大学研究人员声称，这项研究首次将所谓的食物上瘾者与暴饮暴食者区别开来。
耶鲁大学食物成瘾量表测试环节中的高分研究对象在核磁共振成像中对食物产生类似成瘾的神经反应。
在39名女性接受核磁共振成像扫描前，研究人员让她们先回答耶鲁大学食物成瘾量表的26个问题，耶鲁大学食物成瘾量表是一种针对两岁儿童的测试，旨在鉴定病态饮食者。其中15名女性在这项识别类似成瘾饮食行为的测试中得到高分。进入核磁共振成像仪器后，这15名女性对奶昔图像的神经反应远比其他人强烈。该研究结果本周发布在《普通精神病学文献》的网站上。
这项研究表明暴食现象的原因和解决方法都不是单一的。精神病学家说，如果根本的问题是上瘾，那么不管是做胃分流手术还是改变生活方式都不大可能有效.（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原文出处：
Arch Gen Psychiatry. Published online April 4, 2011. doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.32
Neural Correlates of Food Addiction
Ashley N. Gearhardt, MS, MPhil; Sonja Yokum, PhD; Patrick T. Orr, MS, MPhil; Eric Stice, PhD; William R. Corbin, PhD; Kelly D. Brownell, PhD
Context Research has implicated an addictive process in the development and maintenance of obesity. Although parallels in neural functioning between obesity and substance dependence have been found, to our knowledge, no studies have examined the neural correlates of addictive-like eating behavior.
Objective To test the hypothesis that elevated "food addiction" scores are associated with similar patterns of neural activation as substance dependence.
Design Between-subjects functional magnetic resonance imaging study.
Setting A university neuroimaging center.
Participants Forty-eight healthy young women ranging from lean to obese recruited for a healthy weight maintenance trial.
Main Outcome Measure The relation between elevated food addiction scores and blood oxygen level–dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging activation in response to receipt and anticipated receipt of palatable food (chocolate milkshake).
Results Food addiction scores (N = 39) correlated with greater activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, medial orbitofrontal cortex, and amygdala in response to anticipated receipt of food (P < .05, false discovery rate corrected for multiple comparisons in small volumes). Participants with higher (n = 15) vs lower (n = 11) food addiction scores showed greater activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the caudate in response to anticipated receipt of food but less activation in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex in response to receipt of food (false discovery rate–corrected P < .05).
Conclusions Similar patterns of neural activation are implicated in addictive-like eating behavior and substance dependence: elevated activation in reward circuitry in response to food cues and reduced activation of inhibitory regions in response to food intake.
