Obesity has long been blamed on weak willpower, overeating,
genetics and lack of exercise. Now scientists increasingly are
seeing signs that suggest there may be an additional
contributor: food addiction. Monday night and again today,
dozens of the nation's leading researchers in obesity, nutrition
and addiction planned to discuss whether food has addictive
properties for some people. They're gathering in New Haven,
Conn., at a meeting sponsored by Yale University's Rudd Center
for Food Policy and Obesity. "We believe that there is
sufficient science to suggest there is something to this, so we
are bringing the leading authorities together to decide whether
food addiction is real and what the underlying psychology and
biology might be," says Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd
Center. "It's surprising that our field has overlooked this
concept for so long," he says. "Society blames obesity only on
the people who have it and has been close-minded to other
explanations." Support for the idea of food addiction