Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Dr. Kim Mulvihill Reporting Your favorite food could be more than just something you like; new evidence shows that you could actually be addicted to it.
A controversial new theory says you don't just merely crave foods such as chocolate, ice cream, and pizza, you could be physically addicted to them in the same way as alcohol, heroin or cocaine.
Food Addiction is quite real. The most addictive foods are sugar, chocolate (which is no surprise), cheese and meats.
Dr.Neal Barnard: “Its not by accident that two thirds of American adults are now overweight, that diabetes is becoming an epidemic, that we have heart disease.
Dr. Neal Barnard is founder of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and a vegan. He says eating calorie dense foods containing sugar, chocolate, cheese or meat can trigger the release of opiates in the brain.
They make you feel good, they stimulate your appetite so you come back to the food again and again.
But not everyone agrees these foods are addictive. A nutritional expert associated with the dairy industry calls the idea ridiculous and without scientific merit. Other researchers say the theory is too simple, and blurs the science of addiction with cravings and compulsive overeating.
However, there are striking parallels between what drugs can do to the brain and what food can do to the brain. Federal scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory recently uncovered new evidence brain circuits involved in drug addiction are also activated by the desire for food. And that obese patients, like drug addicts, have fewer dopamine receptors in the brain.
Another study found lab rats acted like drug addicts when their high fat foods were taken away.
While these studies don't prove foods are addictive, they do provide clues which may one day help scientists understand why some people overeat.
