Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatr. Sep 19, 2021; 11(9): 517-529
Published online Sep 19, 2021. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v11.i9.517
Binge eating and psychostimulant addiction
M Carmen Blanco-Gandia, Sandra Montagud-Romero, Marta Rodríguez-Arias
M Carmen Blanco-Gandia, Sandra Montagud-Romero, Department of Psychology and Sociology, University of Zaragoza, Teruel 44003, Spain
Marta Rodríguez-Arias, Department of Psychobiology, Facultad de Psicología, Universitat de Valencia, Valencia 46010, Spain
Author contributions: All named authors made an active contribution to the conception, design and drafting of the review article; Blanco-Gandia MC and Montagud-Romero S performed the majority of the writing and created the figures; Rodríguez-Arias M designed the outline and coordinated the writing of the paper; Blanco-Gandia MC, Montagud-Romero S and Rodríguez-Arias M critically reviewed the content and approved the final version for publication.
Supported by Generalitat Valenciana, Conselleria Educacion, Direccion General de Universidades, Grupos de Investigación de Excelencia, No. PROMETEO 2018/132; Ministerio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad, Delegación del Gobierno para el Plan Nacional Sobre Drogas, Proyectos de Investigación sobre Drogodependencias, No. 2018I013; and Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Red de Trastornos Adictivos y Unión Europea, Fondos FEDER una manera de, No. RD16/0017/0007.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicting interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Marta Rodríguez-Arias, PhD, Full Professor, Department of Psychobiology, Facultad de Psicología, Universitat de Valencia, Avda. Blasco Ibáñez, 21, Valencia 46010, Spain. marta.rodriguez@uv.es
Received: January 13, 2021
Peer-review started: January 13, 2021
First decision: May 5, 2021
Revised: May 13, 2021
Accepted: July 27, 2021
Article in press: July 27, 2021
Published online: September 19, 2021
Abstract

Many of the various factors, characteristics, and variables involved in the addictive process can determine an individual’s vulnerability to develop drug addiction. Hedonic eating, based on pleasure rather than energy needs, modulates the same reward circuits, as do drugs of abuse. According to the last report of the World Health Organization, the worldwide obesity rate has more than doubled since 1980, reaching especially critical levels in children and young people, who are overexposed to high-fat, high-sugar, energy-dense foods. Over the past few decades, there has been an increase in the number of studies focused on how eating disorders can lead to the development of drug addiction and on the comorbidity that exists between the two disorders. Herein, we review the most recent research on the subject, focusing especially on animal models of binge eating disorders and drug addiction. The complex profile of patients with substance use and binge eating disorders requires an integrated response to dually diagnosed patients. Nutritional patterns should be considered an important variable in the treatment of substance use disorders, and future studies need to focus on specific treatments and interventions in individuals who show a special vulnerability to shift from one addiction to the other.

Keywords: Binge eating, Psychostimulant, Dopamine, Obesity, Reward, Addiction

Core Tip: In recent years there has been an increased interest in the relationship between food rewarding properties and drug abuse. Binge eating and drug abuse are associated with loss of control and share clinical morbidity. The comorbidity complicates the evaluation and treatment of both disorders, affecting inhibitory control and decision making. This is the first mini-review exploring the most recent research about how bingeing on palatable food can potentially influence vulnerability to develop psychostimulant addiction. It includes the behavioral and neurobiological commonalities between binge eating disorder and drug addiction, especially focusing on recent animal studies.