Food Can Be Addicting: Does Overeating Require Treatment?
It is assumed that food is not a drug, but some researchers suggest that it can still be addictive. According to a recent Calorie Lab report, psychological behaviors lead to our continued engagement in bad habits, despite knowing full well that the habits have negative consequences.
Jon Hamilton of NPR also delivered a report that focused on the addictive properties of food. And, while biological scientists still have not identified whether or not food is actually addictive, it is still considered a hot debate issue. One thing we do know for sure is that a number of studies have identified similarities or other links between the effect of food and the effect of drugs.
These similarities or links have only been identified in tests completed on lab rats and mice. In such tests, the act of eating engages specific basic survival circuits in the brain that produce feelings of pleasure. In other words, when the animals were exposed to habit-forming drugs, the drugs were shown to hijack these circuits to produce the same pleasure feelings.
Foods that tend to trigger the most pleasure are those that are rich in calories and fats and are sweet to the taste. The more we eat each of these foods, the more we have to consume to produce the same level of pleasure. This is a defining characteristic of drug addiction. And, the more obese the lab animal, the greater its need to consume the bad foods to feel satisfied.
Evidence continues to mount that eating too much of these trigger foods can alter the brain dramatically and some of these alterations appear to be permanent.
