ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on topics discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book explores the question of whether various food substances can be categorized as drugs from two overlapping angles-the potential pharmacological properties of foods and dietary supplements and the addictions model of weight and eating disorders. It provides a regulatory perspective on the issue of foods as drugs. The book presents a review of medicinal foods from a cross-cultural perspective. It explains that our food supply contains small quantities of many bioactive substances. The book reviews the literature on whether whole foods normally eaten by Americans have psychoactive properties and an addictive potential. It proposes that an alternative explanation to the addictions model of the compulsive nature of eating among many individuals is that they are having a normal response to an abnormal environment. The book describes that these eating disorders are the result of potent environmental factors that lead to unhealthy dietary practices.
