We've all heard of the 12-step program called Overeaters Anonymous. But tell the truth ... do you really believe that obesity or food addiction belongs in the same category as alcoholism or drug addiction? Dr. James Cocores thinks so. "Sodium-laced and commercially cooked food which make up more than 60% of the average American's daily diet is every bit as addicting as heroin or cocaine," he claims.
Dr. James Cocores is a leading food researcher and nationally recognized addiction expert and Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor of Obesity Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, University of Florida College of Medicine & McKnight Brain Institute, Gainesville, FL.
Dr. Cocores has dedicated the past 20 years to researching the impact of food on the brain and its link to obesity. Dr. Cocores says, "At the root of overeating, poor health and obesity is the power of processed foods ? most of our diet ? to actually biologically and neurologically addict us to food. This happens through the exact identical process as drug addiction and takes place in the same section of the brain ? the "pleasure center" or nucleus accumbens that causes heroin or cocaine addiction.
This breakthrough, that provides the first credible explanation for the obesity epidemic is described in Dr. Cocores' landmark, white paper "The Salted Food Addiction Hypothesis may explain overeating and the obesity epidemic" published in "Medical Hypotheses" Journal (2009;73: 892-899). He is also the author of Bright Foods -- Discover the Surprising Link Between Food and Learning, Memory, Mood, and Performance (amazon.com).
The underlying neurological reason that foods are addicting is actually simple: Because over salted and cooked (processed) foods?"addictive food"?yield the largest "mg" strength of opiate drug in the pleasure center of the brain, and accelerates overeating ("progression") and calorie consumption ("tolerance"). That means hunger and appetite are symptoms of addictive food withdrawal, and the sick feeling associated with overdoing it at an all the addictive food you can eat drug-den is actually a drug overdose. Therefore, one of the solutions to Addictive Food Dependence's most famous symptom, obesity, is a gradual addictive food detoxification employing non-addictive or medicinal foods. The result is sustained weight loss, and improvement in focus, energy and contentment." For years we have been trying to treat obesity as if we were dealing with fuel consumption and efficiency. "Thinking outside this fat-box requires taking extra steps plus a little round trip down the rabbit hole. We must completely refocus our efforts to understand the biology of food addiction that creates the same compulsion to overeat that's provoked by the same mechanism (and behavior) in the brain that causes drug addiction. Understanding how the brain's pleasure center sensitizes your brain to "abuse" or overeat certain processed foods is essential," stated Dr. Cocores. Dr. Cocores is treating patients, consulting and writing to help guide food companies, governments and patients as they redirect their efforts to deal with the obesity epidemic in the U.S. About Dr. Cocores: Dr. James Cocores has been a "go-to" commentator on addiction issues for decades, appearing on national and local television, print, radio and on-line media and delivering professional lectures frequently. Dr. Cocores has written and published dozens of professional peer reviewed papers and is the developer of one previous new diagnostic entity and 11 different medical discoveries to treat drug and food addiction. Dr. Cocores is the author of trade books, physician's reference books and contributed chapters to 8 medical text books including: BrightFoods: Discover The Surprising Link Between Food and Learning, Memory, Mood, and Performance, Emmaus Publishing, LLC, Boca Raton (2006) The 800 Cocaine Book of Drug and Alcohol Recovery, Villard, New York, NY (1990) The 800 Cocaine Book of Drug and Alcohol Recovery, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY (1991), revised trade paperback The Clinical Management of Nicotine Dependence, Editor, Text, Springer Verlag (New York) // var ranNum = Math.round(Math.random()*1000000); document.write('http://content.yellowbrix.com/images/content/cimage.nsp?ctype=full_story&story_id=145926268&id=thirdage&ip_id=Business+Wire&source_id=Business+Wire&category=Healthcare&random=' + (ranNum));// ]]>//
