What does Binging on Junk Food and Obesity have in Common with Alcoholism?

Here is a heart-rending article - Cringe Eating - that the Bionic Broad wrote.  It must have been difficult to write, but this lady, an English teacher, wife and mother is not known to mince her words.  She obviously has a mission to help others.  I do admire her candor and her courage.   In my opinion, this eating disorder is definitely a chemical thing and not the fault of the person in the grips of it.  Help is at hand with low-carbing, but falling off the wagon is an ever-present danger, unfortunately.  The lap band procedure is a risk and one still has to low-carb thereafter, but in Pat's case, she feels it was worth it, as it helped her win the fight to freedom and better health. 

Here is the link to an article that may throw some light on this eating disorder.

Excerpts below:

"A combination of sugar, salt and fat -- that appeal to what are commonly called the reward centers in the brain."

"Grucza's team compared addiction and obesity trends from a national survey conducted in 1991 and 1992 and in 2001 and 2002. Almost 80,000 people took part in the two surveys.
The team found that in 2001 and 2002, women with a family history of alcoholism were 49 percent more likely to be obese than those without a family history of alcoholism. The same was true of men to a lesser degree.
Grucza said the study suggests alcoholism and obesity are cross-heritable, much like alcoholism and drug addiction are. He said some of this may be related to changes in the environment, such as increased consumption of junk foods."

Insightful Conclusion (my DH, Ian, said this actually):

"If we make cheap, sweet wine freely available to school students on a daily basis in school cafeterias, how many alcoholics would we produce by the end of High School?  Well, we make the junk-food equivalents of alcohol freely available to all students in school cafeterias - so why are we surprised that so many junk-food addicted, obese children graduate High School, to a lifetime of struggle with their addiction of binge-eating junk foods?"