Fatty food may be as addictive as cocaine
Source: Agencies |
March 30, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
BINGEING on high-calorie foods may be as addictive as cocaine or nicotine, and could cause compulsive eating and obesity, according to the latest study.
The findings in a study of animals cannot be directly applied to human obesity, but may help understand the condition and develop therapies to treat it, researchers wrote in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
The study, involving rats, found that overconsumption of high-calorie food can trigger addiction-like responses in the brain and that high-calorie food can turn rats into compulsive eaters in a laboratory setting, the article said.
The scientists also found decreased levels of a specific dopamine receptor - a brain chemical that allows a feeling of reward - in overweight rats, as has been reported in humans addicted to drugs, the article said.
"Obesity may be a form of compulsive eating. Other treatments in development for other forms of compulsion, for example drug addiction, may be very useful for the treatment of obesity," researcher Paul Kenny of The Scripps Research Institute in Florida said in a telephone interview.
Obesity-related diseases cost the United States an estimated US$150 billion each year, according to US federal agencies. An estimated two-thirds of American adults and one-third of children are obese or overweight.
For the study, Kenny and colleagues headed to the grocery store.
"We basically bought all of the stuff that people really like - Ding-Dongs, cheesecake, bacon, sausage, the stuff that you enjoy, but you really shouldn't eat too often."
The rats in the experiment also ignored the threats of a minor shock to get unlimited access to high-calorie food, Kenny said. Instead, they did not respond to the potential danger when shown a warning light, and continued to eat their snacks.
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