I want to talk about a subject that comes up so much. Food
I am convinced that food is the most addictive drug there is, much worse than ... uhem... okay, I don't know the names of drugs. lol... In food, the culprit being sugar of course. A new study has found that high-sugar snacks activate an area of the brain that is also stimulated by hard drugs.
I will quote the study from The Dailymail, for you to read. I found this quite interesting.
''The study involved creating two milkshakes - one with a high, and one with a low glycaemic index.
The milkshakes were otherwise identical, with similar calories and taste.
The drinks were then given to 12 healthy, overweight men on different days and in random order.
Four hours after the high glycaemic index shake, participants were hungrier than those who had consumed the low glycaemic index shake.
Experts also carried out functional MRI imaging on all participants.
The images revealed intense activation of the nucleus accumbens, a critical brain area in the dopaminergic, mesolimbic system that mediates pleasure eating, reward and craving.
Similar activation patterns have been found in people after consumption of addictive substances, such as heroin and cocaine.
Dr Lennerz said that their findings 'provide qualified support for the possibility of food addiction'.
She added: 'While food is necessary for life, we eat for reasons beyond our daily energy needs. When overeating becomes a pattern that is hard to break, we say someone is "addicted" to food.'
Finally Dr Lennerz concluded that while more research is needed to examine the concept of food addiction, 'the fact that a food may affect addiction centres in the brain, independent of calories or pleasure, provides the basis to rethink current dietary recommendations'.''
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2402746/Food-addiction-DOES-exist-Junk-food-activates-region-brain-hard-drugs.html#ixzz2kn6knhgT
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