Processed Foods and Addiction

Did you know that food can be addictive?! Are you a junk food addict?!
Study finds brain activity similar to heroin users after eating certain processed foods and shows brain activity in the ‘pleasure area” after eating foods with a high glycaemic index such as white bread, crisps, biscuits, chips and other similarly types of processed food. Well, tge same brain activity is seen in people who are addicted to substances!
Food could be as addictive as class-A drug heroin and nicotine in cigarettes, claims a new study.

Researchers have found substance abuse and food with a high glycaemic index – such as white bread – may trigger the same brain mechanism tied to addiction.

Eating highly processed carbohydrates can cause excess hunger and stimulate brain regions involved in cravings. People trying to cut these type of foods from their diet exhibit withdrawl symptoms and usually cave in to the urge and return back to the junk food.

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, investigated how food intake is regulated by dopamine-containing pleasure centres in the brain.

Study leader Dr David Ludwig, of Boston Children’s Hospital in the United States, said: ‘Beyond reward and craving, this part of the brain is also linked to substance abuse and dependence, which raises the question as to whether certain foods might be addictive