Studies show junk foods change brain chemistry and are addictive like cocaine
Is gorging on a bag of nacho cheese-flavored corn chips, for instance, the same
as snorting a line of cocaine? A number of scientific studies, many of which
were conducted within the past year, have found that junk food addiction is
essentially the same as cocaine addiction, at least as far as the brain is
concerned.
Bloomberg Businessweek reports on a plethora of recent data that identifies junk
food addiction as being just as serious as drug addiction. High-fructose corn
syrup (HFCS), monosodium glutamate (MSG), hydrogenated oils, refined salt, and
various other chemical preservatives found in processed junk food does the same
thing to a person's brain as cocaine does.
A 2010 study conducted by scientists at Scripps Research Institute (SRI) in
Florida found that rats given free access to Hormel Foods Corp. bacon, Sara Lee
Corp. pound cake, The Cheesecake Factory Inc. cheesecake, and Pillsbury Co.
Creamy Supreme cake frosting, experienced significant changes in brain activity
and function -- and these changes mirrored those that occur in the brains of
drug addicts.
Another study conducted by researchers at both the University of Texas in Austin
(UT) and the Oregon Research Institute found that prolonged consumption of junk
foods results in reduced activity in the striatum, a section of the forebrain
that registers reward. In other words, just like with illicit drugs, those
addicted to junk food require ever-increasing amounts of it to get the same
"high."
"The data is so overwhelming the field has to accept it," said Nora Volkow,
director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) concerning the findings.
"We are finding tremendous overlap between drugs in the brain and food in the
brain."
In a correlative study, researchers identified a similarity in dopamine
production levels between drug addicts and junk food addicts. Addiction to
either one essentially causes the brain receptors that receive dopamine signals
to lose their responsiveness. As a result, addicts require increasing amounts of
the addictive substance to receive the same level of satisfaction.
Since processed foods are loaded with synthetic chemical additives, they are
technically drugs themselves. So it is no wonder that millions of people around
the world are addicted to them.