gradPSYCH - November 2011 - (Page 28)

CLASS ACT Fighting food addiction surprising connections between substance abuse and food cravings, and is pioneering a new field along the way. was a field that really hadn’t evolved yet,” says Gearhardt. So she began studying traditional addiction as a psychology graduate student under Corbin. She found herself again drawn toward food when Brownell gave a guest lecture to her class. Brownell’s talk clinched her focus: Instead of studying wellestablished addictions, Gearhardt would help pioneer the entirely new field of food addiction. It was a gutsy move, but one that has been fruitful. Gearhardt has been first author on 10 published or in press papers over the last two years alone — a remarkable feat for a graduate student, says Brownell. “Ashley Gearhardt has done groundbreaking work,” Brownell says, “and it is being noticed in the scientific world and beyond.” Yale University graduate student Ashley Gearhardt has found BY TORI DeANGELIS I magine a pizza slice dripping cheese seductively off of a plate, or envision a thick, rich chocolate bar. Hungry? You’re in good company, says Yale University graduate student Ashley Gearhardt. These “hyperpalatable” foods are specifically engineered to spark cravings, triggering brain responses that look surprisingly like the brain’s response to alcohol or even hard drugs, according to her research, conducted under the mentorship of Yale obesity researcher Kelly Brownell, PhD, and Arizona State University addiction researcher Will Corbin, PhD. Unfortunately, people aren’t struggling with the nutritious foods they actually need more of, she says. Instead, the food that is “really jacked up” in its reward value is junk food, like french fries, “where you’d benefit if you never had another one,” she says. Gearhardt began wondering whether food can be addictive when, as an undergraduate, she heard Caroline Davis, PhD, a professor at York University and Oxford University, discuss whether eating behaviors might share similarities with addictive behaviors — a line of research being explored by a few researchers via animal models. “I found the idea fabulously interesting, but it Foundational studies The team’s first task was to develop the Yale Food Addiction Scale, first published in the journal Appetite (Vol. 52, No. 2) in 2009. The measure takes the substance-dependence criteria from the revised fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and translates them to reflect eating behaviors associated with foods high in fat, salt and sugar. The seven-item scale has since been cited in 13 published 28 • gradPSYCH • November 2011 

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of gradPSYCH - November 2011

GradPSYCH - November 2011
Contents
Most practice-oriented psychology students Google their clients
Does romance quash women’s interest in science?
Goodbye to the ad hoc postdoc
Graduate students take on Capitol Hill
Media Picks
Odd Jobs
Research Roundup
Grad school traps
Chair’s Corner
Postgrad growth area: Designing workplace wellness programs
Study smart
Fighting food addiction
Matters to a Degree
Using social media in your research
Midlife grad students
Are you really ready for private practice?
Bulletin Board
Jobs, internships, postdocs and other opportunities
The Back Page

gradPSYCH - November 2011

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