Preclinical evidence for the addiction potential of highly palatable foods: Current developments related to maternal influence
By David A. Wiss, Kristen Criscitelli, Mark Gold, & Nicole Avena
In summary, recent research supports the assertion that certain foods have the potential to become addictive. The neurobehavioral commonalities observed between substances of abuse and highly palatable foods are strong. These neuroadaptations within thereward-related centers of the brain contribute to hedonic hyperphagia, likely leading to obesity and a myriad of other chronic ailments. With a greater understanding of these neurobiological underpinnings, more effective treatment strategies can be developed to combat the obesity pandemic. Given what we know about food addiction, it is likely that a mother who consumes highly palatable food during gestation will consume similar items during lactation. It is also likely that a mother who consumes junk food during gestation will create a post-natal food environment (home)with exposure to these foods. The combination of exposure to junk food during gestation, lactation, and early life is likely to create a composite effect on the development of offspring food addiction.
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Abstract
It is well established that obesity has reached pandemic proportions. Over the last four decades the prevalence of obesity and morbid obesity have risen substantially in both men and women worldwide. Although there are many causative factors leading to excessive weight gain including genetics and sedentary lifestyle, the transformation of the food environment has undoubtedly contributed to the dangerously high rates of obesity.
The current food landscape is inundated with food engineered to contain artificially high levels of sugar and fat. Overconsumption of these types of food overrides the homeostatic mechanisms, which under normal circumstances regulate appetite and body mass, leading to hedonic eating.
Evidence from the animal literature has illustrated nutrition-influenced perturbations that occur within the mesolimbic dopamine pathway, as well as maladaptive behavioral responses that result from chronic ingestion of highly palatable foods. These neurobehavioral adaptations are similar to what is observed in drugs of abuse. Recent evidence also supports that maternal exposure to these foods is capable of provoking neurobehavioral alterations in offspring.
Therefore the purpose of this review is to summarize the current developments on the addictive potential of highly palatable foods, as well as illuminate the impact of maternal hyperphagia and obesity on the reward-related neurocircuitry and addiction-like behaviors in the offspring.
