Studies on rats suggest that junk food addiction may be a potential health hazard for humans. The brain may control the urge to eat certain types of food, and habitual eating patterns may influence neurotransmitters in the brain. However, there is little evidence to determine that people are addicted to junk food. It is recommended that people primarily consider avoiding junk food to avoid potential addiction.
Junk food addiction is a recently studied phenomenon in rat populations that many scientists are now extrapolating to human populations as a possible potential addiction and health hazard. This is not proven addiction because the subject has not been studied in depth in humans, but there is some evidence to suggest that such studies might be warranted, and that it might be possible to become addicted to junk food in a way that makes it difficult. stop eating it and make it difficult to switch to healthier eating patterns. In a more general sense, many people who overeat seem to choose mostly junk food and can consider themselves addicted.
The study that has primarily aroused interest in the nutritional and medical fields is one published in Natural Neuroscience in 2010. In the study, scientists took a group of rats and fed them a constant stream of foods high in fat, salt, and sugar, and the rats quickly began to overeat these foods, even when they were negatively reinforced by electric shocks. At the same time, some rats were withdrawn from this diet, many of them refusing to eat healthier food for several weeks. Another group of rats was fed a much healthier diet with limited access to junk food, and although they were given more access to food, they did not overeat.
What the rat’s behavior suggests about junk food addiction is the possibility that the brain controls the urge to eat certain types of food. Habitual eating patterns may influence neurotransmitters in the brain. A lifetime of junk food addiction can start with frequent eating, where these “reward” fatty foods can make people actually need more rewards to boost neurotransmitters like dopamine to acceptable levels.
Similar patterns have been described when people become addicted to drugs. They grow to need the drugs more, the more they are used. The chemicals involved in junk food addiction are the same ones involved in drug addictions.
While such research is intriguing, there is little evidence to determine that people are addicted to junk food. Despite the scientific evidence, it’s not hard to understand that many people have a hard time breaking eating habits for foods they routinely “reward,” but do so at the cost of health.
It might help to think of junk food addiction as a series of physical symptoms. People trying to stop eating foods high in fat or sugar may understand that the first few weeks, at least, of a new diet would be something of a withdrawal period. Alternatively, there may be medications designed to increase neurotransmitter levels so that people don’t miss out on neurotransmitter reward foods as much, although quit attempts are still not as successful. For now, it is certainly recommended that people primarily consider avoiding junk food, thus avoiding potential addiction.
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