Some people can become addicted to food in the same way an alcoholic or drug addict becomes addicted a substance, according to a new study appearing in Archives of General Psychiatry. Not only did researchers discover an association between addictive-like eating behaviors and neural activity; they also found out what makes certain foods addictive.
The study investigated 48 young women varying from lean to obese. They discovered that women who exhibited greater addictive behaviors towards food also had greater neural activity in the brain regions associated with substance dependence.
“We have no doubt that certain foods are addictive,” said study author, Dian Griesel, Ph.D, “The real question is, ‘What is it that makes these foods so addictive?’”
Researchers attribute these addictive reactions to the refined, un-natural foods that people have been increasingly exposed to over the last 40 years. Our bodies are perfectly able to consume and process natural foods, it is the un-natural, man-made foods that cause problems, the authors claim. These refined, modern foods are deliberately designed to be addictive, researchers explain.
“The rise of obesity and other modern diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, high triglycerides and hypoglycemia, to name a few—along with so-called ‘food addiction’—are all the end result of consuming too many of these ‘engineered’ modern foods in our daily diets,” the authors said.
Researchers conclude that refined and processed foods are dangerous for our health, especially to those who are more prone to becoming addicted to them. The authors suggest satisfying sweet cravings with the natural foods that humans were designed to eat such as fruit.
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