Compulsive eating and obesity may be triggered by a specific gut bacteria, suggests a new study—and the breakthrough may lead to new treatments to address the problem of food addiction.

The bacteria identified by an international research team is associated with both humans and mice developing an addiction to food that can lead to obesity. They also identified bacteria that play a beneficial role in preventing food addiction.

"A number of factors contribute to food addiction, which is characterized by loss of control over food intake and is associated with obesity, other eating disorders, and alterations in the composition of bacteria in the gut microbiome," said Professor Elena Martín-García, of Pompeu Fabra University, Spain.

"Until now, the mechanisms underlying this behavioral disorder were largely unknown."

Professor Rafael Maldonado, who leads the university's Laboratory of Neuropharmacology, said: "These results from our study may allow us to identify new biomarkers for food addiction and, most importantly, to evaluate whether the beneficial bacteria could be used as potential new treatments for this obesity-related behavior, which, at present, lacks any effective therapeutic approaches.

"Potential new treatments could involve using beneficial bacteria and dietary supplementation."

The team used the Yale Food Addiction Scale to diagnose food addiction in both mice and humans. It contains 35 questions for people to answer, and these can also be grouped into three criteria for use in mice: persistent food-seeking, high motivation to obtain food, and compulsive behavior.