Cupcakes, Cookies and Cocaine

A recent study on rats has proved that fatty foods such as Ice cream, fries and so on, increase levels of dopamine in our brain and overload the pleasure centers giving us an addiction to food similar to that of a cocaine addiction.

Their study found that,

"Not surprisingly, the rats that gorged themselves on the human food quickly became obese. But their brains also changed. By monitoring implanted brain electrodes, the researchers found that the rats in the third group gradually developed a tolerance to the pleasure the food gave them and had to eat more to experience a high. They began to eat compulsively, to the point where they continued to do so in the face of pain. When the researchers applied an electric shock to the rats' feet in the presence of the food, the rats in the first two groups were frightened away from eating. But the obese rats were not. "Their attention was solely focused on consuming food," says Kenny."

HA!!!

I laugh mainly because this last line, "their attention was solely focused on consuming food" is clearly how I am on a daily basis. I can be in the middle of a tornado, I'm not running for cover until I finish eating!! I laugh also because this study just confirms that, although I'm not obese, I indeed have an addiction to food, and you know what, I'm not sorry for it! Did they really need to study rats to figure this all out? They could have just studied me. Watched me at 3pm at work when I'm cranky, light headed, and my attention span is down to zero and all I can think about is when I can get my next fix a.k.a meal!!!!

Shoot, if anything, this article made me want a cupcake even more =)


Read the full article on this study at Fatty foods may cause cocaine-like addiction