Scientist have previously proven links between drug addiction
and fast-food addiction, but now there is a growing body of
research that is finding out how junk food is hard wiring our
brains for cravings. The latest study, published March 28 in
“Nature Neuroscience,” likened the affects of high-fat, high-
calorie fast food to those of cocaine or heroin, in animals at
least. The researchers showed that the pleasure-center in rats
brains were overstimulated from the fast food similar to an
addict’s cocaine binge. Eventually, the pleasure centers became
so overloaded that rats needed more and more food to feel
normal, according to Paul H. Kenny, an associate professor of
molecular therapeutics at the Scripps Research Institute.
Throughout the study, Kenny and his co-author studied three
groups of lab rats for 40 days. The first group ate healthy
food. The second ate a limited amount of junk food. The third
group, however, was allowed to gorge on high-fat, high-calorie
foods and became obese. The startling side ef