Fatty Foods Addictive Like Cocaine

titletown
titletown Posts: 377 Member
in Food and Nutrition
An interesting article posted on Bloomberg earlier this week suggests that fatty & sweet foods trigger the same neurons in the human brain as cocaine:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-02/fatty-foods-addictive-as-cocaine-in-growing-body-of-science.html

Replies

  • agleckle
    agleckle Posts: 235 Member
    You should check out the book "The End of Overeating"... it says the same thing and has all sorts of other interesting stuff in there too. I am reading it right now.
  • LKBuckingham
    LKBuckingham Posts: 17
    You get a high from eating fatty foods just like you would from a runner's high.
  • humanskin
    humanskin Posts: 42
    You get a high from eating fatty foods just like you would from a runner's high.

    I'll take the runner's high thank you very much. Everytime I eat a lot of fatty foods I get a three day "hangover." Even my body says "ick."
  • kantone999
    kantone999 Posts: 174
    The body of evidence that food is a bonafide addiction is growing. Even the sight of food can trigger the release of the same anticipatory peptides that a cocaine user does when s/he sees a mound of white poweder (whether it's coke or not, interestingly enough). Here's where the abstinance-because-there's-no-cure programs will be of limited help since we have to keep eating. Researchers are looking at leptin synthesis as a possible treatment. If you google "leptin weight loss" you'll find a bunch of info on the topic. Leptin seems to be the culprit behind that infamous weight gain after dieting.
  • UponThisRock
    UponThisRock Posts: 4,519 Member
    I counter all this by counting calories
  • titletown
    titletown Posts: 377 Member
    An old saying I heard years ago now rings so true now that I've reached my goal...

    "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels"
  • servilia
    servilia Posts: 3,452 Member
    So does sex. Or the view of anything pleasurable, like a sunset if that's what you like. So does the knowledge you're about to watch your favourite TV show. There's nothing "special" about fatty or sugary foods per se. It's just that ALL things that we like trigger the same dopamine pathways.
  • saj6
    saj6 Posts: 33 Member
    I believe it! if you have kids you will see that even the sight of a fast food sign is enough to make them cry for fast food (and we hardly eat out!) My husband calls McDonalds 'crack for kids' due to our kids seeming immediate addiction to it!
  • ivyjbres
    ivyjbres Posts: 612 Member
    I believe it! if you have kids you will see that even the sight of a fast food sign is enough to make them cry for fast food (and we hardly eat out!) My husband calls McDonalds 'crack for kids' due to our kids seeming immediate addiction to it!

    Its the playgrounds.

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