一項(xiàng)新研究表明，糾結(jié)著拒絕吃巧克力,、法式炸薯?xiàng)l或其他垃圾食品的人并非意志力薄弱,，而是存在某種內(nèi)在性的問題：事實(shí)上他們可能真的對這些食物有癮。
研究人員利用高科技掃描技術(shù)對病態(tài)飲食者和正常人的腦部進(jìn)行觀察發(fā)現(xiàn),，在前者面前拿出一份奶昔,，就好像在酗酒者面前晃動一瓶冰鎮(zhèn)啤酒一樣,。
以往的研究結(jié)果顯示，食物照片可以令腦部“獎賞中樞”活躍,，與烈酒照片對酗酒者的效果很類似,。耶魯大學(xué)研究人員聲稱，這項(xiàng)研究首次將所謂的食物上癮者與暴飲暴食者區(qū)別開來,。
耶魯大學(xué)食物成癮量表測試環(huán)節(jié)中的高分研究對象在核磁共振成像中對食物產(chǎn)生類似成癮的神經(jīng)反應(yīng),。
在39名女性接受核磁共振成像掃描前，研究人員讓她們先回答耶魯大學(xué)食物成癮量表的26個問題,，耶魯大學(xué)食物成癮量表是一種針對兩歲兒童的測試,，旨在鑒定病態(tài)飲食者。其中15名女性在這項(xiàng)識別類似成癮飲食行為的測試中得到高分,。進(jìn)入核磁共振成像儀器后,，這15名女性對奶昔圖像的神經(jīng)反應(yīng)遠(yuǎn)比其他人強(qiáng)烈。該研究結(jié)果本周發(fā)布在《普通精神病學(xué)文獻(xiàn)》的網(wǎng)站上,。
這項(xiàng)研究表明暴食現(xiàn)象的原因和解決方法都不是單一的,。精神病學(xué)家說，如果根本的問題是上癮,，那么不管是做胃分流手術(shù)還是改變生活方式都不大可能有效.（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原文出處：
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.
