Abstract:

Food addiction is a complex chronic disease which can result in people’s excessive dependence on a certain food
in their daily life, over-eating and other related behavior characteristics. In recent years, food addiction has been regarded
as a key cause of obesity, bulimia or diabetes, which has gained more and more attention from the academia as a research
hotspot. In this paper, the concept of food addiction and diagnostic criteria are presented, and the recent progress in the
pathological mechanism, influencing factors and therapeutic strategies of food addiction are summarized. Furthermore,
the implications of food addiction for China’s food industry are also discussed, in order to provide useful information for
preventing food addiction and ensuring public health in China.

Key words: food addiction, pathological mechanism, diagnostic criteria, therapeutic strategy