Addictions
October 30, 2022
TLDR: Navigating the Intersection of Eating Disorders and Substance Use
This article explores the complex relationship between eating disorders and substance use disorders. Key points include:
Individuals with both conditions face unique physical, psychological, and emotional challenges.
Substance use may become a coping mechanism for the distress and body image concerns of eating disorders.
There is a high rate of overlap, with estimates suggesting up to 50% of those with one disorder also have the other.
Altered brain reward pathways in those with prior substance abuse make them more susceptible to disordered eating behaviors.
Chronic exposure to highly palatable foods during childhood may also contribute to addiction-like processes.
Trauma is often an underlying factor driving both eating disorders and substance use disorders.
Integrated, trauma-informed treatment approaches are crucial for addressing these co-occurring conditions.
Wise Mind Nutrition emphasizes:
The importance of nutrition for mood and brain health in recovery
Finding a balanced, non-restrictive approach to eating without diet culture
Working with a specialized treatment team to navigate this complex intersection
The article highlights the need for a comprehensive, biopsychosocial understanding of the links between eating disorders and substance abuse in order to provide effective, compassionate care.
[Read the full transcript for deeper insights and expert perspectives on this critical mental health issue.]
Co-occurring eating and substance use disorders represent a complex and often challenging intersection of mental health issues. Individuals grappling with both conditions simultaneously face a unique set of physical, psychological, and emotional complications. Often, these disorders intertwine, as substance use may become a means of coping with the emotional distress and body image concerns commonly associated with eating disorders.
The conversation in the video features dietitian Toni Toledo and Dr. Wiss, discussing the topic Cooccurring Eating and Substance Use Disorders.
Toni: In this conversation, I'm thinking about friends, family members, you know, people I know who have had eating disorders and then get over that and later end up with a substance use disorder, or substance abuse disorder first where they manage that and then an eating disorder. My throat is kind of like “oh” because I'm picturing all these people whom I love who have gone through this. Feels like a spiral, right? But there's a relationship there and we're just curious - do you see that they typically go hand in hand or is it just a predisposition, or is it that dopamine thing? What can you tell us here?
Dr. David Wiss: Such a good question and I've been asking the same question for many years and trying to learn more about the co-occurrence and overlap of eating disorders and substance use disorders. The data suggests that it could be anywhere as high as 50% overlap [1–6].
But I think an important point is a point that we made earlier about disordered eating versus full-blown clinically significant eating disorders. Someone that has a history of addiction has altered neurobiology which makes them more susceptible to reward-based processes. The brain assigns more value to things that are rewarding and remember that rewarding substances or behaviors are important for reducing negative affect.
Therefore, the brain registers it as a survival-promoting behavior. So, for someone that grew up with heavy drug addiction or alcohol use disorder, once they get sober it's very predictable that there's going to be some dysfunctional eating behavior and that might play out with binge eating, night eating, etc. and this can have a negative effect on body image.
And so that's one example of the overlap. But then someone could also make the argument that chronic exposure to highly palatable foods during their childhood is what set them up for addiction-like processes. And that argument is very valid and hasn't been studied.
If you think about this addiction epidemic that we're in; if you think about the growth of highly palatable foods starting in the early 1980 and then living in a world. Side note: I'm also very interested in exposure to highly rewarding food during pregnancy and the potential implications for that to program the reward pathways of the offspring. We've seen that in animal models [7].
So as the food environment is changing and there's more susceptibility to addictions there's a heightened level of stress, trauma, and adversity in the world and then you bring in all the other addictions with tech and phones and it’s a mental health crisis. The brain is just now set up for addiction-like processes across the board. People are way more impulsive, have much less attention, etc.
A lot of people get into eating disorder treatment and recovery and then cross into alcohol or drugs, or food. And there's certainly a role for stimulants that can be used for weight suppression in this conversation. We see appetite-suppressing drugs as well as appetite-suppressing medications being abused for weight management purposes. This can really impact one’s relationship with food.
So yes, they cluster and they cooccur. I often find myself very curious about which one comes first. But to our previous points and I think a major theme of today is that trauma is certainly an antecedent to both.
And there are many people that would look at trauma as the real driver of the behavioral health issues and that the addiction and the eating disorder are just downstream manifestations of early life trauma.
Final Thought
If you’ve experienced overlapping eating and substance use disorders, nutrition is particularly important for you. It may be the key to the next chapter of your recovery, particularly if anxiety and/or depression are present. You can eat food for mood and brain health, without being restrictive and giving in to diet culture. You just have to find the right treatment team!
References
1. Wiss D. Clinical Considerations of Ultra-processed Food Addiction Across Weight Classes: an Eating Disorder Treatment and Care Perspective. Curr Addict Reports. Published online 2022:1-13. doi:10.1007/s40429-022-00411-0
2. Wiss DA, Brewerton TD. Incorporating food addiction into disordered eating: the disordered eating food addiction nutrition guide (DEFANG). Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity. 2017;22(1):49-59. doi:10.1007/s40519-016-0344-y
3. Wiss DA, Waterhous TS. Nutrition Therapy for Eating Disorders, Substance Use Disorders, and Addictions. In: Eating Disorders, Addictions and Substance Use Disorders, Research, Clinical and Treatment Perspectives. Springer; 2014:509-532. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-45378-6_23
4. Wiss D, Brewerton T. Separating the Signal from the Noise: How Psychiatric Diagnoses Can Help Discern Food Addiction from Dietary Restraint. Nutrients. 2020;12(10):2937. doi:10.3390/nu12102937
5. Wiss DA, Avena N, Rada P. Sugar Addiction: From Evolution to Revolution. Frontiers in Psychiatry. 2018;9:545. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00545
6. Wiss DA. The Role of Nutrition in Addiction Recovery: What We Know and What We Don’t. Elsevier. Published online 2019. doi:10.1016/b978-0-323-54856-4.00002-x
7. Wiss DA, Criscitelli K, Gold M, Avena N. Preclinical evidence for the addiction potential of highly palatable foods: Current developments related to maternal influence. Appetite. 2017;115:19-27. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2016.12.019
