Here's a Q&A session by Ashley Gearhardt, PhD, The Yale University Conference on Binge Eating Disorder, Sugar and Food Addiction’s Impact on Treating Eating Disorders. Visit- https://www.rivermendhealth.com/

1. Session On Binge Eating
Disorder, Addictions- The
Yale University
ConferenceQ&A
Ashley Gearhardt, PhD

2. Can you describe organization
rationale and outcomes of the
“historic” yale conference?
The Yale Conference on Food Addiction was the first gathering of
experts across the fields of addiction, obesity, and feeding behavior to
focus on the question of whether certain foods can be addictive. The
presentations and conferences that took place over the course of that
meeting influenced much of the foundational thought about how
addictive processes may be contributing to overeating and supported
the emergence of this new area of study.

3. How do you describe food addiction
in 10 words or less? How is it different
than sugar addiction?
Compulsive overeating triggered by repeated exposure to highly rewarding
food. While I see (added) sugars as one of the most relevant ingredients to
addictive-like eating, other ingredients also appear to be implicated. For
example, potato chips and French fries are commonly eaten in an addictive-
like way, but they have a low sugar content. They do have a higher starch
content (which is converted to sugar in the body) and fat content. The food
addiction term broadens the scope of focus beyond sugar.

4. Can you describe the genesis, evolution and
validation of yale food addiction scale (YFAS)?
Are some foods most addicting, more addicting
and non-addicting?
• At the time that we first started doing this work, there was no scale to
measure food addiction. Researchers were using obesity as a proxy, which
we had some concerns about. Obesity can be caused by so many factors
(e.g., medication side effects, genetic conditions, physical inactivity), using
it as a marker of an addiction to food is not super precise. We also saw
that some people who had body weights in the normal range were
reporting addictive-like eating, but this was not reflected in their weight
because of dieting practices, physical activity or a fast metabolism.

5. Continue…
• Other approaches out there were the use of self-identification (ex. are you
a chocoholic?), but it was hard to know what this might be capturing. So,
we decided to use the diagnostic criteria for substance dependence (and
now substance use disorders based on the DSM 5) and translate it to apply
to the consumption of highly rewarding foods (e.g., chocolate, salty
snacks). This allowed us to use the same criteria that we would use to
diagnose any other substance use disorder to measure addictive-like
eating.

6. Continue…
• It was also important for us to specify the types of foods that were most likely
implicated in food addiction. We all have to eat, but the type of eating
behavior associated with food addiction is driven not by a need for sustenance,
but to experience pleasure or to fulfill a craving. Our future work has further
borne out that this is not an addiction to the act of eating, but more
specifically to the intake of foods that have artificially high levels of rewarding
ingredients (like refined carbohydrates and fat). As time goes on and more
research comes out, I think one of the next steps will be revising the term of
food addiction to more accurately reflect the types of food that are capable of
triggering an addictive process. Perhaps, highly processed food addiction?

7. Should all psychiatrists evaluating disordered eating
include the yfas and add yfas+ to anorexia nervosa,
bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorders? Which
clinicians should use the yfas?
• For clinicians evaluating disordered eating, it would be useful to assess for
food addiction by including some version of the YFAS. We have developed
and validated brief versions of the scale (see the modified Yale Food
Addiction Scale 2.0) that can be used to quickly screen for an addictive-like
phenotype. Food addiction and eating disorders appear to be overlapping,
but distinct constructs with about half of individuals with an eating
disorder meeting for food addiction. Individuals with both eating disorders
and food addiction appear to have a more severe variant of the disorder.

8. Continue…
• For example, in binge eating disorder, those with food addiction exhibit more
frequent binge eating episodes, more emotion dysregulation, and greater
impulsivity. In bulimia nervosa, higher levels of food addiction symptoms at
baseline predict worse treatment outcomes in response to a brief psychosocial
treatment. Thus, knowing if an eating disorder patient has also high YFAS
scores may inform clinical care. It is also important to note that about half of
people with food addiction do not meet the requirements for an existing eating
disorder. So, the use of the YFAS may also help understand the eating problems
of people who do not clearly fit into traditional eating disorder categories. We
also see that rates of food addiction are elevated for individuals with
depression and post traumatic stress disorder, so it may also be important to
assess in more general mental health clinics.

9. What are the shared characteristics between binge
eating disorder and food addiction, and what are the
unique?
• The overlap between binge eating disorder and food addiction really is not
that surprising when we step back and look at these conditions from a
mechanistic level. Both binge eating disorder and addiction perspectives
theorize that dysfunction in reward processes, craving, emotion
dysregulation, and inhibitory control difficulties contribute to
overconsumption of food and addictive substances, respectively. There are
some unique aspects to both perspectives to consider as well.

10. What are the shared characteristics between binge
eating disorder and food addiction, and what are the
unique?
• From a traditional eating disorder perspective, the role of shape and
weight concern and attempts at dietary restriction are thought to be
causal. From an addiction perspective, these aspects could still be
considered important, but would not be as central. In contrast, the nature
of the food itself would be extremely important from an addiction
perspective. From a traditional eating disorder perspective, the role of the
food itself is minimized. However, from an addiction perspective, certain
foods (likely highly processed foods) may be so rewarding that they are
capable of triggering addictive changes in reward and motivational
circuitry.

11. What are the relationships between overeating ,
obesity, parental food addiction and feeding
practices? Please explain. What are common
comorbidities you have found for YFAS?
• Research on how food addiction runs in families is only starting to emerge.
In a recent study, we found that parents with higher food addiction scores
also have children with higher food addiction scores. There are a number
of factors that could contribute to this, including genetics, parenting
practices, and the home food environment.

12. What are the relationships between overeating ,
obesity, parental food addiction and feeding
practices? Please explain. What are common
comorbidities you have found for YFAS?
• We definitely need more research on this topic! And we need to provide
parents with tools on how to optimally feed a child who has an addictive-
like drive for highly processed foods. Right now there is very little guidance
out there for parents, but definitely lots of blame. As researchers and
clinicians, we need to do a better job equipping parents with empirically
supported practices that is sensitive to the individual needs of their child. It
is highly unlikely that a one-size fits all approach to feeding is going to be
successful for all children, especially those at risk for food addiction.

13. What are the relationships between overeating ,
obesity, parental food addiction and feeding
practices? Please explain. What are common
comorbidities you have found for YFAS?
• We do see that the YFAS is associated with a number of important co-
morbidities, including obesity, diet-related disease and eating disorders. It
is also associated with depression, PTSD, and gambling. My instinct is that
transdiagnostic treatment approaches that focus on shared mechanisms
across disorders (e.g., emotion regulation, inhibitory control) are going to
be important for addressing these comorbidities.

14. Craving, Liking, and Wanting research is critical to our
understanding of addiction but what about in food
addiction?
• Craving is also essential in the context of food addiction. I think one of the
misconceptions about addiction is that people who struggle are individuals
who just like the drug more, but research hasn’t really born that out.
Instead, it seems to be that people who experience greater wanting and
motivational drive for the substance (regardless of how much pleasure
they get when they actually consume it) are at the greatest risk.

15. Craving, Liking, and Wanting research is critical to our
understanding of addiction but what about in food
addiction?
• This enhanced motivational drive can express itself in the form of conscious
cravings or sometimes automatic approach tendencies that can occur
outside of the person’s awareness. I think that equipping patients with a
greater understanding of what triggers this enhanced motivational drive
for them (e.g., cues in the environment, emotional states) is essential in
giving them back control of their eating behavior.

16. Can you describe the FAST Lab, what you have done in
this lab and what you hope to do going forward?
• At Yale, one of my mentors was Dr. William Corbin and he has a simulated
bar lab. I got to see firsthand how important it was to investigate addictive
behaviors in naturalistic, cue-rich environments. The experience of drinking
a beer in a sterile, clinical room is so different than the typical experience
of consuming alcohol. If we do research only in sterile, hyper-controlled
environments, we don’t see the craving, expectancies and behavior that
are really key to problem drinking. Using Will’s work as an inspiration,

17. Can you describe the FAST Lab, what you have done in
this lab and what you hope to do going forward?
• I created the Food Addiction Science and Treatment lab to create a naturalistic,
cue-rich food environment that resembles a fast food restaurant. It has furniture
and menu boards to resemble a fast food restaurant, all our research assistants
wear a uniform that resembles a fast food worker and it smells like French fries
when the participants walk in. We have been using this lab to identify what are the
mechanisms through which people are prone to overeat (craving being a big one!)
and now we are investigating how neural responses to food advertisements might
predict eating behavior in our fast food restaurant lab.

18. What types of studies are being conducted to evaluate
the relationship between weight loss surgery and
addiction?
• There is interesting work suggesting that individuals who have weight loss surgery are at
greater risk for the development of substance use disorders. Although there are many factors
that likely contribute to this (e.g., different rates of absorption of drugs, increased access to
pain killers after surgery), one hypothesis is that there is an addiction transfer from highly
processed foods to drugs of abuse post-surgery. Dr. Gold was one of the first researchers to
publish work on how individuals who are attempting to quit drugs of abuse are at greater risk
for weight gain and overeating. The research on weight loss surgery suggests this increased
risk might also go the other direction too.

19. What are the 3-5 future directions?
• It is an exciting time to be doing research in this field and there are definitely more
questions than answers. Some big future directions that come to mind for me are
1) identifying why certain foods are more capable of triggering an addictive
process than others, 2) the development of new treatments that take into account
the potentially addictive nature of highly processed foods, 3) investigating how
addictive-like eating may emerge in children and teenagers, and 4) conducting
more detailed research on the withdrawal syndrome that may result from cutting
back on potentially addictive foods.

20. Get Help Now
Call 844-332-5256 to speak to a RiverMend
eating disorder specialist. Our compassionate,
friendly staff will guide you through a free
phone consultation, discuss your treatment
options, and schedule an in-person evaluation
from a physician at one of our RiverMend Health
eating disorder treatment centers.

21. For eating disorder treatment, visit
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