Compulsive Eating of Junk Food can be as Addictive as Cocaine and Heroin

Scripps Research Study Shows Compulsive Eating Shares Same Addictive Biochemical Mechanism with Cocaine, Heroin Abuse

The Research Provides New Clues to Obesity Epidemic

JUPITER, FL, March 23, 2010 –In a newly published study, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have shown for the first time that the same molecular mechanisms that drive people into drug addiction are behind the compulsion to overeat, pushing people into obesity.

Junk food can be as addictive as cocaine or heroin.

The new study, conducted by Scripps Research Associate Professor Paul J. Kenny and graduate student Paul M. Johnson, was published March 28, 2010 in an advance online edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience.

View the video here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=AY-cA8V9GPo

The study's startling findings received widespread publicity after a preliminary abstract was presented at a Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago last October. Articles heralding the new discovery appeared in news publications around the world, focusing on the point obese patients have been making for years – that, like addiction to other substances, junk food binging is extremely difficult to stop.

The study goes significantly further than the abstract, however, demonstrating clearly that in rat models the development of obesity coincides with a progressively deteriorating chemical balance in reward brain circuitries. As these pleasure centers in the brain become less and less responsive, rats quickly develop compulsive overeating habits, consuming larger quantities of high-calorie, high-fat foods until they become obese. The very same changes occur in the brains of rats that over consume cocaine or heroin, and are thought to play an important role in the development of compulsive drug use.

Kenny, a scientist at Scripps Research's Florida campus, said that the study, which took nearly three years to complete, confirms the "addictive" properties of junk food.

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Commentary
 
So who is to blame for the twin epidemics of obesity and diabetes (they are related)? The people who eat compulsively, parents who don’t know any better and feed their families processed food, or the manufacturers of our food supply?

Have you ever looked at an obese child and wondered why they are overweight?

In my opinion the problem starts at home, and this is where the battle needs to be fought.

Through ignorance or simple laziness, parents are feeding their children processed food as opposed to healthy, nutritious, home-cooked meals. Ninety percent of the money spent on food in the U.S. is spent on processed food, food that lacks fiber and nutrition. To make matters worse, this food is heavily laced with man-made toxins that ensure that you become addicted to junk food and crave more (you over eat because the chemicals in your food have disabled your brain from telling you to stop eating).

AND THIS IS THE REAL PROBLEM.

Make no mistake: the manufacturers of our food supply know precisely what they are doing. They are turning our children into food junkies, and they are doing it on purpose - all in the name of profit.

Parents need to become more proactive. They need to stop buying processed food and prevent their children from eating junk food. They need to lead by example. Fresh fruit and vegetables need to become the norm. Exercise and outdoor activities should become a way of life. The solution to the problem needs to be family-based.

Collectively, we need to vote with our wallets. Boycott anything containing high fructose corn syrup (the real reason behind the twin epidemics of obesity and diabetes in the US), aspartame, bisphenol A (BPA), sugar, sodium benzoate, monosodium glutamate (MSG), nitrates and nitrites. Better yet, don’t buy anything that has a label.

The government can help by banning food additives such as high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, MSG, etc.

Eating healthful, fresh foods combined with moderate exposure to the sun and daily exercise is the solution to optimum health and wellness - and the ultimate solution to obesity.