#475: Is Food Addiction Real? – Charlotte Hardman, PhD
Sigma Nutrition Radio
Danny Lennon
4.8 • 633 Ratings
🗓️ 22 March 2023
⏱️ 56 minutes
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The idea of food addiction has gained a lot of attention in recent years, as obesity rates continue to rise around the world. Many people struggle with overeating and find it difficult to resist certain foods, leading to a cycle of guilt and shame. The concept of food addiction suggests that there may be a biological explanation for this behavior, and that certain foods may be especially "rewarding" to the brain, leading to a kind of addiction.
To help look at the evidence in this area, our guest in this episode is Dr. Charlotte Hardman, who is a leading researcher in the field of appetite and obesity. Dr. Hardman's research focuses on the psychological and biological processes that contribute to overeating and obesity. She is particularly interested in the concept of "food addiction," which suggests that certain foods may be addictive and lead to compulsive overeating, similar to substance addiction.
In this podcast, we will explore the latest research on food addiction with Dr. Hardman. We will delve into the evidence for and against the idea of food addiction, as well as discuss the potential implications for public health and policy. Join us as we explore this fascinating topic and learn more about the complex relationship between food and the brain.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to episode 475 of Sigma Nutrition Radio. I am your host, Danny Lennon. You are very welcome back to the podcast, |
| 0:24.1 | or if this is your first time listening, then you are very welcome to the podcast, and I hope you |
| 0:28.0 | enjoy this. This is where we have discussions related to nutrition science and health science, |
| 0:33.2 | and today is no different. Today I'm going to be talking with Dr. Charlotte Hardman, who is a senior |
| 0:38.7 | lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Liverpool. And there, Dr. Hardman |
| 0:44.2 | leads a program of research focused on appetite and obesity and the psychological determinants |
| 0:49.6 | of both healthy and sustainable food choices. And indeed, Dr. Hardman's background is in psychology and rooted at that and is looking at these issues from a psychology perspective. |
| 1:01.0 | She's published close to 100 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals at this point and has been at the University of Liverpool for a considerable period of time, previous to that holding postdoc positions at the University of Bristol and Bangor University. |
| 1:16.6 | And in this episode, we're going to talk about a couple of really interesting topics, |
| 1:21.6 | one of which is this concept that has been hypothesized for quite a while, |
| 1:26.6 | both in the media and actually in academia of food addiction. |
| 1:31.6 | And in other words, is there some basis to actually think of food in the same way we do of addictive substances? |
| 1:39.2 | And that people's behaviors would, at least for some people, portray it in a way that they are addicted to food or to eating or certain types of foods in some way. |
| 1:49.3 | And again, this gets based on this idea that there's these addictive-like behaviors that people can have, or many people, of course, will self-identify themselves as a food addict, quote unquote. And there has been research |
| 2:03.1 | exploring this idea, some of which Dr. Hardman has published on investigating, well, is there |
| 2:09.1 | actually a basis to say that there is this concept for a food addiction? Do we have any evidence to |
| 2:13.6 | show that this is actually correct? Is there any validity to something of a food addiction diagnosis? |
| 2:21.3 | Is this something we can actually define? And do we have good evidence that this is actually occurring? |
| 2:27.3 | And then beyond that, she's published really interesting work of, even if we put that to the side for the moment, |
| 2:33.3 | this label of food addiction or being a food addict is that helpful or harmful. |
| 2:39.8 | And this kind of balances on a couple of really interesting aspects because on one side, you could say, well, it could be helpful in the sense of people are now saying it's not just down to their fault of being lazy or |
| 2:52.7 | or gluttonous or any of these old outdated ideas around. It's just someone's choice to essentially do |
... |
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