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Low carbohydrate and psychoeducational programs show promise for the treatment of ultra-processed food addiction
Thousands of peer-reviewed papers have examined food addiction, particularly addiction to ultra-processed foods. Even though 20% of individuals fit the diagnostic criteria for this disorder, food addiction is not a recognized clinical diagnosis. Hence there are few tried-and-true treatment regimens and published result statistics. The concept of food addiction having therapeutic applications has increased the number of doctors providing their services to patients. This audit by Unwin et al. (2022) provides information on three clinical teams who offer programs that are delivered online using a shared methodology. Each team concentrated on a whole food, low-carb strategy while providing emotional support and educational resources related to recovering from food addiction. There were weekly meetings for 10–14 weeks, followed by monthly support. Data included pre- and post-program results for body weight, ICD-10 symptoms of food-related substance use disorder (CRAVED), modified Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 symptoms of food addiction, and the Short Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale to evaluate mental well-being. There were 103 individuals in the included population sample. Food addiction was substantially reduced across all settings, as evident by mYFAS2 score of -1.52, CRAVED score of -1.53, and body weight reduction of 2.34 kg. Overall, there were noticeable gains in mental health. The authors further comment that, in due course, follow-up statistics will be made public. More research is necessary to evaluate and compare long-term therapies for this complicated and challenging biopsychosocial illness. [NPID: Addiction, ketogenic diets, low carbohydrate diet, processed food, sugar]
Year: 2022
