Other recent research in the area of eating disorders and their
etiology has pointed to the possibility that some cases of
obesity are due to a food addiction and may be linked to
genetics. For more information on this theory, see Psychiatric
News. In fact, binge eating disorder (BED), which has been
proposed as a diagnosis to be added to the next edition of APA's
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5),
might be considered a food addiction because a major criterion
for it is loss of control over eating behavior. Yet how the
mechanism of loss of control in BED compares with the loss of
control in other addictions remains to be determined. To read
more about this topic, see Psychiatric News.