Fatty foods addictive like cocaine in growing body of scientific research

• LANGRETH, Robert. Fatty foods addictive like cocaine in growing body of scientific research, Bloomberg, November 2^nd 2011.

Abstract:

Presents the results of studies which shows the junk food is comparable to the cocaine. More laboratories and universities processed foods and sugary drinks aren’t simply unhealthy. They can hijack the brain in ways that resemble addictions to cocaine, nicotine and the drugs.

Quotation:

“Cupcakes may be addictive, just like cocaine. […] Those changes look a lot like addiction to some experts. Addiction “is a loaded term, but there are aspects of the modern diet that can elicit behavior that resembles addiction,” said David Ludwig, a Harvard researcher and director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center at Children’s Hospital Boston. Highly processed foods may cause rapid spikes and declines in blood sugar, increasing cravings, his research has found.

Education, diets and drugs to treat obesity have proven largely ineffective and the new science of obesity may explain why, proponents say. Constant stimulation with tasty, calorie- laden foods may desensitize the brain’s circuitry, leading people to consume greater quantities of junk food to maintain a constant state of pleasure.”

Index terms:

Junk food, dependence, drugs, health.

→ Found with:  Google alerts "Junk food"

→ URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-02/fatty-foods-addictive-as-cocaine-in-growing-body-of-science.html

L.T.G