New Study Shows Junk Food is Addictive
Scientists think they have confirmed that fatty foods are addictive. According to CNN, a recent study done on rats confirms that high-fat, high-calorie foods affect the brain in a similar way as cocaine and heroin.
Paul J. Kenny, Ph.D., an associate professor of molecular therapeutics at the Scripps Research Institute explained to CNN that eating too much junk food gradually overloads the brain's "pleasure centers." Eventually, you need more and more junk food to achieve the same level (or even less) pleasure. There is more to overeating than just willpower he says.
To conduct the study, scientists followed three groups of rats. The first group was fed normal rat food. The second group was allowed to gorge on sweets and junk food for one hour a day. The third was allowed unlimited amounts of junk food for 23 hours of the day.
The third group began to eat compulsively. When researchers applied an electric shock in the presence of food, the first two groups shied away from eating. The third group continued eating, regardless of the shock.
Scientists are toying with the idea that the same treatments used for drug addiction might be helpful in curing obesity.
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