Previously submitted to: Online Journal of Public Health Informatics (no longer under consideration since Nov 24, 2024)
Date Submitted: Feb 7, 2024
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
The Paradox of Food Addiction and the Obesity Epidemic: A Public Health Perspective
ABSTRACT
Background:
The rise in obesity rates presents a grave public health challenge, surpassing even tobacco as the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Much like other forms of substance use disorder, food addiction is a complex, multi-faceted disease involving a number of neurobiological factors associated with addiction, endocrine response, and social-psychological determinants. These interconnected and often competing systems add to the difficulty of treatment.
Objective:
This article explores the complex neuro-endocrine interplay involved in obesity, the parallels to substance addiction, and the societal factors exacerbating the obesity epidemic.
Methods:
This study employed a non-systematic literature review across various disciplines, including medicine, public health, addiction, neuroscience, psychology, sociology, criminology, public policy, and social networks. Relevant databases such as PubMed, PsycINFO, and Scopus were searched using keywords related to obesity and its multifaceted implications. Data extraction focused on obesity-related health outcomes, societal impacts, and intervention strategies. The synthesis of findings aimed to aggregate insights from the diverse fields to present a holistic understanding of obesity's complexity.
Results:
Research has revealed important findings within many diverse disciplines, but few efforts have taken a multi-disciplinary approach. Given the significant interactions across complex biological and societal systems, obesity requires a holistic treatment approach.
Conclusions:
Given the elevated rates of obesity and its severe impact on both the quality and longevity of life, we argue for more targeted funding and a cross-disciplinary approach to achieve multifaceted, affordable, and equitable health solutions. Clinical Trial: n/a
Citation
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.