title: Which foods may be addictive? The roles of processing, fat content, and glycemic load.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We propose that highly processed foods share pharmacokinetic properties (e.g. concentrated dose, rapid rate of absorption) with drugs of abuse, due to the addition of fat and/or refined carbohydrates and the rapid rate the refined carbohydrates are absorbed into the system, indicated by glycemic load (GL). The current study provides preliminary evidence for the foods and food attributes implicated in addictive-like eating.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional.
  
  
  METHODS
  University (Study One) and community (Study Two).
  
  
  METHODS
  120 undergraduates participated in Study One and 384 participants recruited through Amazon MTurk participated in Study Two.
  
  
  METHODS
  In Study One, participants (n = 120) completed the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) followed by a forced-choice task to indicate which foods, out of 35 foods varying in nutritional composition, were most associated with addictive-like eating behaviors. Using the same 35 foods, Study Two utilized hierarchical linear modeling to investigate which food attributes (e.g., fat grams) were related to addictive-like eating behavior (at level one) and explored the influence of individual differences for this association (at level two).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In Study One, processed foods, higher in fat and GL, were most frequently associated with addictive-like eating behaviors. In Study Two, processing was a large, positive predictor for whether a food was associated with problematic, addictive-like eating behaviors. BMI and YFAS symptom count were small-to-moderate, positive predictors for this association. In a separate model, fat and GL were large, positive predictors of problematic food ratings. YFAS symptom count was a small, positive predictor of the relationship between GL and food ratings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current study provides preliminary evidence that not all foods are equally implicated in addictive-like eating behavior, and highly processed foods, which may share characteristics with drugs of abuse (e.g. high dose, rapid rate of absorption) appear to be particularly associated with "food addiction."
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America.
authors.forename: Erica M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Schulte
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, New York Obesity Research Center, Mount Sinai- St. Luke's Hospital, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Nicole M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Avena
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America.
authors.forename: Ashley N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Gearhardt
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000209:etiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000032:analysis*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D005511:Food Handling; D038321:Glycemic Index; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004041:Dietary Fats