Abur Cuburlar Eroin Kadar Bağımlılık Yapabiliyorlar - Junk Food Could be Addictive like Heroin

Junk food could be addictive 'like heroin'

Monday, 29 March 2010

By Steve Connor, Science Editor

Rats became 'hooked' on sausage and cheesecake in same way as drug abusers .

Junk food may be addictive in the same way as heroin or cocaine , according to a study showing that laboratory rats will endure painful electric shocks to satisfy their craving for high-calorie snacks made from sausages,bacon and cheesecake.

Scientists have found that a "café-style" diet of fatty , sugary food results in compulsive overeating among rats and causes neuro-chemical changes to the brain that mimic the sort of alterations in the human brain brought about by addiction to heroin and cocaine.

The findings lend support to the idea that certain types of energy-intensive foods can trigger compulsive overeating and obesity in humans, leading to a form of food addiction that is almost impossible to overcome by dieting.

The researchers found that rats offered junk food quickly became so attached to it that they would endure painful but harmless electric shocks to their feet in order to eat it. They would even prefer to starve themselves rather than eat the "salad bar option" of the typical rodent food eaten by rats that had never had junk food.

"They always went for the worst types of food and, as a result, they took in twice the calories as the control rats. When we removed the junk food and tried to put them on a nutritious diet - what we call the 'salad bar option' - they simply refused to eat," Professor Kenny said. "The change in their diet was so great that they basically starved themselves for two weeks after they were cut off from their junk food."

Professor Kenny added: "These findings confirm what we and many others have suspected, that overconsumption of highly pleasurable food triggers addiction -like neuroadaptive responses in brain reward circuitries, driving the development of compulsive eating."

independent.co.uk

Vocabulary Exercise

Abur Cuburlar Eroin Kadar Bağımlılık Yapabiliyorlar — Junk Food Could be Addictive like Heroin

Junk food could be addictive 'like heroin'

1. He has become a nicotin ..... . He smokes two packets of cigarette a day.

2. Guinea pig is a kind of ..... and it loves eating fruits and vegetables.

3. You have to lose weight so stop eating ..... food.

4. I am ..... . Let's go outside and have a delicious meal.

5. Many young people are dying of ..... overdose.