An American study led by Dr. Paul Johnson and Dr. Paul Kenny at the Scripps Institute shows that high-fat foods lead to food addiction.
The results published in Nature Neuroscience outline how experiments on rats found that a diet high in fat influences the same areas of the brain as hard drugs like cocaine and heroin.
Dr. Kenny comments, "What this is telling you is that, if you persist in eating food that you know is bad for you, there is a chance that you will develop a habit, and you will keep on going back to that food unless you make a really strong, conscious effort to stop it."
During the research study, rats raised on regular chow were suddenly given unrestricted access to a high-fat diet. The rats completely lost control over their eating and started compulsive or binge eating. They would not stop eating the high-fat foods even after receiving mild foot shocks.
This study clearly concludes that junk food is addictive.