I have also been late in addressing the recent announcement of pending changes in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association that regard eating behaviors. The DSM is in its fourth edition; the fifth is due in 2013.

You may know that the only substance abuse disorders regarding food in the DSM IV are anorexia and bulimia. There is another category, ED-NOS, which stands for eating disorders not otherwise specified, but they are mostly A/B-related, with exceptions.

What its editors are proposing for the next edition is to add Binge Eating Disorder, which is an advance, but quite short of the chief contention I argue in "Fat Boy, Thin Man" (due from Fisherblue Press in the spring; see left column on this page), which is that food addiction exists and must be recognized by the medical community and the public at large, so that treatment options can expand to address the burgeoning of obesity in America.

You can follow this link to see the substance-use disorders page of the DSM V development page. You can follow this link to see conditions that have been proposed by sources outside the APA, such as mental-health advocacy groups, for inclusion. Thus far, no sign of food addiction there, either, but they are accepting comments until April 20.