Sustained Weight Loss Achieved Through Food Addiction Recovery

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The following is a summary of “Six-year follow-up of an abstinence-based, food addiction recovery approach to weight management,” published in the June 2025 issue of Frontiers in Psychiatry by Thompson et al. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to investigate whether an abstinence-based approach to food addiction recovery could serve as a viable long-term strategy for weight loss or weight maintenance.  

They analyzed 6-year follow-up data from 267 participants who began an abstinence-based food addiction recovery program for weight loss in October 2017. Survey responses were compared to baseline self-reported data collected 6 years earlier.  

The results showed that in six years, 71.8% of participants maintained over 5% weight loss. Sustained weight loss was significantly linked to current program membership (P<0.001) and adherence to the abstinence-based food plan (P<0.001). Adherence demonstrated a dose-response relationship with weight loss outcomes. Current members who followed the program achieved an average sustained weight loss of 13.9%.  

Investigators concluded that the findings supported the long-term effectiveness of a food addiction recovery approach for weight loss and highlighted the need for further research on abstinence-based food plans in managing obesity. 

Source: frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1584201/full