"Abra a felicidade"? Implicações para o vício alimentar

Abstract

Nearly two billion people are overweight. This eating disorder is affecting more and more children/teenagers. Although it is a multifactorial disease, there is strong evidence of the influence of advertising and the obesogenic environment in changing dietary habits. Industry/commerce food techniques can generate excessive consumption by developing flavors, images and techniques of persuasion, and by the production of foods high in sugar, salt and fat which are rewarding nutrients. This article focuses on the influence of the consumption of palatable food in the functional neuroanatomy of pleasure and its implication for food addiction. It also discusses the transtheoretical model as a tool for intervention in the treatment of obesity.