Fast food is a drug

Neurophysiologists of the Scripps Research Institute (Jupiter, Florida), working under the guidance of Dr. Paul J. Kenny, have found that a high-calorie, fat-rich diet causes a progressive decrease in the sensitivity of pleasure centers in the brain of rats. As these changes progressed, the rats developed an irresistible craving for excessive amounts of food and, as a result, obesity. The craving for overeating did not disappear even in the case when getting food was associated with unpleasant sensations (weak effect of electric current on the paws).

The authors also found that, as the activity of the pleasure centers decreased, the rats increasingly lost interest in a well-balanced nutritious diet, and this manifested itself even when the only food available to them were less appetizing products from the natural rat diet.

According to Kenny, the decrease in the sensitivity of pleasure centers that occurs with regular overeating of fatty foods is similar to what the authors observed earlier when studying the processes occurring in the brain of rats with the development of dependence on cocaine or heroin. According to this observation, the development of obesity and drug addiction may be based on the same neuroadaptive mechanisms.

The results obtained by the researchers, reported at the Neuroscience 2009 conference, make one think, since the diet on which the rats were kept (unlimited access to high-calorie foods such as bacon, sausage, cottage cheese cupcakes and chocolate) is very similar to the daily diet of millions of people living in developed countries. Fast food (aka junk food – "junk food") is considered the main cause of the obesity epidemic in the United States.

However, empirically, the people felt all of the above a long time ago - remember the old joke:
– Are there any drugs?
– E!
– Show me… So it's lard!
– And I'm crazy about him!

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru According to Science Daily: Junk Food Diet Causes Rats' Brain Pleasure Centers To Become Progressively Less Responsive.

02.11.2009