Is Binge Eating Disorder a Food Addiction? Where the Comparison Helps — and Where It Breaks Down

This is an important question as the application of an addiction model to binge eating disorder (BED) can be both helpful and limiting when conceptualizing BED. It's worth examining where BED overlaps with, and differs from, other substance addictions.

Studies exploring similarities and differences between binge eating disorder and other forms of addiction have shown neurobiological similarities—similar dopamine responses, similar patterns of tolerance and escalation, and the same quality of compulsive use despite negative consequences. The brain’s reward circuitry responds to highly pleasurable foods in ways that mirror the response to addictive substances (Volkow & Wise, 2005). This overlap is part of why binge eating disorder is sometimes described—informally—as a “food addiction,” even though the clinical picture is more complex than that term suggests (Gearhardt et al., 2009). Additionally, many clients struggling with binge eating describe a similar progression of the condition over time—what may have started as an occasional indulgence becomes increasingly frequent, with larger amounts needed to achieve the same relief, and there's a persistent desire to cut down despite repeated unsuccessful attempts. Loss of control, the continued engagement despite knowing the harm, the preoccupation and craving—these core features align closely with the addiction framework and help us understand why willpower alone is rarely sufficient to sustain changed behavior over time. 

Key Differences Between Binge Eating Disorder & Substance Addiction

Three differences stand out clinically, and each one changes what effective treatment has to account for: the impossibility of abstinence, restriction as a trigger rather than a safeguard, and a shame profile that works differently than it does with other addictions.

The Impossibility of Abstinence

The most obvious difference is that you cannot abstain from food. With alcohol, drugs, or gambling, the gold standard has traditionally been complete cessation. Without minimizing the struggle of other addictions, food asks something different: we're asking someone to maintain a moderate, flexible relationship with the very substance that often feels outside their control—one they must engage with multiple times a day, every day, for the rest of their lives. Imagine telling someone with an addiction to alcohol that they need to have exactly three drinks a day, no more, no less, and they need to navigate this during social engagements, celebrations, life stressors, personal crises, and a range of different emotions. This is essentially “the ask” of people with binge eating disorder.

Restriction as a Maintaining Factor

In drug and alcohol use disorders, restriction serves as a measure of protection. But restriction with BED—whether physical or psychological—is often a significant contributory factor to the binge cycle. The body's response to caloric restriction triggers biological mechanisms that increase preoccupation with food (e.g., food noise), lower impulse control around eating, and intensify the reward response when food is inevitably consumed (Polivy & Herman, 1985). While this is adaptive from a survival standpoint, it can be devastating for someone trying to navigate a healthy relationship with food. As a result, “caving” to cravings triggers a spike in symptomology. 

Shame and Visibility

The shame profile also functions differently. While substance use disorders certainly carry stigma, there's an increasingly accepted cultural narrative framing addiction as a disease—complete with recognizable recovery language (e.g., one day at a time, hitting rock bottom), visible support systems like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, celebrity recovery stories, and a general understanding that addiction represents illness rather than moral failure (Puhl & Suh, 2015). This cultural framework, however imperfect, offers a way to understand the disorder as separate from the person's character.

Binge eating disorder lacks this protective narrative. Instead of being understood through a medical lens, BED exists within the cultural context of diet culture, where eating is moralized and body size is treated as a reflection of personal virtue and self-control. As a result, feelings of shame are often more pervasive and internalized. Many of my clients experience their disorder not as something they have, but as evidence that they, themselves, are fundamentally flawed. These feelings are compounded by the fact that body weight may be visible in ways that substance use often is not, making individuals subject to constant external judgment and scrutiny.

Implications for Treatment

These differences have profound implications for treatment. Although clients frequently report they have been referred to a Twelve-Step program rooted in abstinence, they also often report feeling the model doesn’t translate well to their experience.  In my clinical experience, clients benefit from treatment that focuses on increasing cognitive flexibility, understanding of their own body’s signals, and normalized eating patterns. Paradoxical to a traditional addiction framework, clients often find that as they shift toward a more regulated pattern of eating, their relationship with food also gradually begins to shift. 

Changing eating patterns addresses only the behavioral symptoms of binge eating disorder. Since binge behavior, itself, is a symptom rather than the root cause, treatment focused exclusively on behavioral change is insufficient. In my work with clients, I prioritize addressing the underlying shame, isolation, and disconnection clients experience. Because food can’t be abstained from the way other substances can, effective treatment must address both the behavioral symptom and a client’s emotional, often symbolic relationship with food. As clients learn to navigate their relationship with food and increase their tolerance for imperfection, they can begin to understand the deeper psychological wounds that often set the pattern of disordered eating in motion.

References

Gearhardt, A. N., Corbin, W. R., & Brownell, K. D. (2009). Preliminary validation of the Yale Food Addiction Scale. Appetite, 52(2), 430–436. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2008.12.003

Polivy, J., & Herman, C. P. (1985). Dieting and binging: A causal analysis. American Psychologist, 40(2), 193–201. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.40.2.193

Puhl, R., & Suh, Y. (2015). Stigma and eating and weight disorders. Current Psychiatry Reports, 17(3), Article 10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-015-0552-6

Volkow, N. D., & Wise, R. A. (2005). How can drug addiction help us understand obesity? Nature Neuroscience, 8(5), 555–560. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1452