EDeology: The People Behind Today's Eating Disorder Treatment Landscape15 Maj 2025

Ultra-Processed Food Addiction: What It Is, What It’s Not, and Why It Matters

Does food addiction exist?

This question is the topic of heated debate within the eating disorder recovery community.

We know that binge eating and compulsive overeating can share some characteristics with substance use disorders, such as loss of control, repeated unsuccessful attempts to quit, and continued use despite negative consequences.

However, the question is whether this loss of control around food is the body’s response to food restriction, as is often the case with chronic dieting and binge eating disorder, or the result of disinhibition, similar to patterns seen in substance use disorders.

In this episode, David Wiss explains what ultra-processed food use disorder is, how it differs from deprivation driven binge eating, and why it's important to recognize clients who present with it and feel misunderstood by the eating disorder narrative.

He touches on his own substance abuse history but also emphasizes his value for acting on a sense of purpose and engaging with clients and the larger systems that impact them in a way that extends beyond his own story.

David is a mental health scientist and registered dietitian nutritionist. He has a PhD in public health with a minor in Health Psychology. He founded Nutrition in Recovery, a group practice based in Los Angeles, CA, that integrates nutritional care into substance use disorder treatment. David also founded the Wise Mind Nutrition mobile app, which bridges the gap between nutrition and mental health. As a clinician and researcher, he has over a decade of experience working one-on-one with patients. He has authored more than 20 peer-reviewed journal articles on topics related to disordered eating and ultra-processed food addiction. David is dedicated to disrupting the status quo and contributing innovative solutions to the mental health crisis.

Nova food classification https://ecuphysicians.ecu.edu/wp-content/pv-uploads/sites/78/2021/07/NOVA-Classification-Reference-Sheet.pdf

Review of the research on ultra processed food addiction https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/16/12/1955

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