A team of American researchers from the University of Michigan conducted a survey on food addiction. According to their conclusions, certain foods would make us just as “addicted” as certain medicines or certain drugs.
Previous research conducted on rodents had already determined that processed foods containing added sugar in particular were capable of causing addiction. This study shows that certain foods, very salty, very fatty or very sweet, lead to real addiction in humans because they activate the same area of the brain as certain hard drugs.
Pizza, chocolate and crisps in the top three
For their study, the American researchers asked more than 500 participants to study a list of 35 foods and say which of them they would be “able to eat until they made them sick” or even “willing to try to stop eating it”. The researchers then averaged the scores recorded by the different foods and ranked them in relation to the addictive behavior engendered (rated from 1 to 7).
Unsurprisingly, pizza, chocolate and crisps top the list of the most addictive foods. Closely followed by cookies and ice cream. On the other hand, at the very bottom of the list are cucumbers, carrots, beans, apple and brown rice.
According to Dr Nicole Avena of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, this is no coincidence as several studies suggest that palatable, highly processed foods can produce behaviors and brain changes identical to those of drugs or alcohol.
Food addiction is not an officially recognized disorder. The closest disorder accepted by the scientific community would be hyperphagia, or severe food compulsion, which consists of absorbing in a short period of time “a quantity of food significantly exceeding what most people eat in the same time and under the same circumstances”. However, this work should make it possible to change the behavior and approach of doctors in the treatment of overweight and obesity.
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