Today's episode explores whether certain foods can be addictive, with insight from Dr. David Kessler, former FDA Commissioner and author of "Diet, Drugs, and Dopamine." Monica and Dr. Kessler discuss the concept of food addiction, compulsive eating, and the brain's reward system.

Transcript: https://nutrition-diva.simplecast.com/episodes/can-we-really-be-addicted-to-food-with-dr-david-kessler/transcript

References

Evidence for sugar addiction: behavioral and neurochemical effects of intermittent, excessive sugar intake - PubMed

Addiction-like reward dysfunction and compulsive eating in obese rats: Role for dopamine D2 receptors - PMC

Female mice are more prone to develop an addictive-like phenotype for sugar consumption | Scientific Reports

Frontiers | Shifts in naturalistic behaviors induced by early social isolation stress are associated with adult binge-like eating in female rats

Addictive Junk Food: A Simple Story for a Complex Problem - ConscienHealth

Chemical Complexity of Food and Implications for Therapeutics | New England Journal of Medicine

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