As the battle of the bulge continues, a new piece of research from The Scripps Research Institute sheds new light on the causes of obesity. According to the study, compulsive eating may be caused and encouraged by the same molecular mechanisms that drive people into drug addiction. Then, in turn, the compulsive eating leads to obesity over time as it takes more and more higher-calorie, fat-laden foods to satiate the pleasure centers of the brain.
Note that this study was done in rats and not people, but it is food for thought! Read more about the compulsive eating study here.