From my experience in addiction therapy, one thing has become very clear to me and that is much of the compulsive behavior caused by faulty brain wiring began during early childhood.

In my case, I was abandoned by my biological parents for a three month period as an infant and was mistreated by Aunts and Uncles. I still have fleeting horrible memories of this event.

Eating without regards to health or other consequences is simply a form of addiction, as you are doing it for emotional reasons and not because of hunger.

All sorts of emotional traumas happen to infants and young children in poverty that are far less likely to happen to those in a more financially and, lets face it, emotionally stable environments. Poverty, of course, stresses everyone involved in it.

I am not sure how groundbreaking this research is as it has been well-known for many years that seriously stressing infants causes the brain's reward system to change.