Is compulsive overeating a disease in the standard thinking? A disease is a pathological condition that affects part of an organism. Using that definition, can we identify the disease’s cause and effect scientifically? My answer is “not yet.” To say that we never will would be folly. I truly believe it will only be a matter of time before scientists come to isolate some physiological aspects of this disease, just like they have done with alcohol.

When the A.A. Big Book was written, the writers spoke of how certain drinkers passed that “invisible line” where their ability to have a choice about stopping – once drinking had started – was erased. Scientists have, in recent years, found an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase that has been shown to have a significant role in alcoholism and the body’s ability to metabolize alcohol. The point being, that often science lags behind that which is already commonly known to those who suffer from the disease.

Let’s think about the concept of disease for a moment. People get cancer, which is considered a disease – but is it really some foreign thing? No. In the case of cancer, it’s an abnormal growth rate in cells. Other diseases have other abnormalities, yet they exist within the body of the sufferer. In other words, people suffering from cancer are growing those cells themselves. Nobody however, considers that they want it and wouldn’t choose to not have those cells reproducing if they had a choice in it...