The idea that highly processed ‘junk food’ can cause addictions in consumers is a concept that makes you take a deep breath and think again. Could it really be true that eating modern processed foods can actually cause people to crave more and more, in the same way that cocaine users might want more and more?

Is food high in sugar addictive? Photo jujuly25 flickr.com/photos/jujuly25/370986806/

It is an idea that is being promoted by a growing body of scientific papers which suggest that these foods and sugary drinks can “hijack the brain” in ways that mimic drug addiction.

“Overwhelming” evidence

“The data is so overwhelming the field has to accept it” said Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse as reported by Bloomberg. “We are finding tremendous overlap between drugs in the brain and food in the brain.”

US Scientists have drawn attention to an ever increasing amount of research showing that food that is highly sweetened with sugar or high-fructose corn syrup can be as addictive as drugs such as nicotine or cocaine.

There have been 28 studies on food addiction in the past year alone according to the National Library of Medicine.

Addictive behaviour in animals

Some laboratory studies have found sugary drinks and fatty processed food can produce addictive behaviour in animals.

In addition scientists reveal that compulsive eaters and obese people show disturbances in “brain reward circuits” similar to patterns with drug users, as revealed by brain scans.

The food industry has been quick to say that nothing is yet proven, and that these kinds of foods are only meant to be eaten in moderation. PepsiCo’s Chief Executive Officer Indra Nooyi points out that companies say they are increasingly offering consumers a wide range of healthier snacking options. Pepsi is certainly endeavouring to do so.

The world is grappling with an obesity epidemic and it is quite obvious that human beings are not designed to rely on a diet which is predominantly comprised of much of today’s convenience foods. Something has obviously gone awry with modern day eating.

What is addiction in the context of food?

But addiction? It is a highly emotive term. Some people who eat a more “natural diet” claim that they find so many modern convenience foods fundamentally unsatisfying, no matter how often they “treat” themselves to these foods. If they eat one fast food burger or sugary cake they say that they usually immediately want another to satisfy the hunger cravings which have actually increased after that burger or cake. Now this is not scientific research, merely anecdotal observations which I have observed many times.

Could it be that such foods do trigger addictive behaviour?

Could it be that they actually re-wire our brains?

Could it be that we eat more of these high calorie foods to maintain some kind of level of pleasure akin to the drug addict’s high?

We are of course programmed to crave sugars and fats, but it seems as though it is the concentrated levels that are in modern foods, without any corresponding increase of nutrients or fibres, that is the issue here.

“Same brain pattern that occurs with escalating intake of cocaine”

In one experiment conducted in 2010 by scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida designed to measure activity in areas of the brain which register reward and pleasure, rats that had access to these types of food for one hour a day started binge eating, even though more nutritious food was available throughout the day. Other groups of rats who had sweet and fatty foods available for 18 to 23 hours per day became obese. Paul Kenny, the Scripps scientist leading the study which was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, was quoted in Bloomberg as saying that “the results produced the same brain pattern that occurs with escalating intake of cocaine”.

“To see food do the same thing was mind-boggling” said Kenny.

Just try taking Coca Cola away from a 2 year old child who has been introduced to the beverage, and replacing it with fruit juice. It is very hard work, and no mother will need a scientific study to know that there is something very powerful going on that makes children behave almost as though they are going through a mild form of cold turkey if you deny them a sugar based soft drink. It is a sufficiently shocking experience to indicate that this is a question that is worthy of scientific investigation. 

If this science of obesity continues in this manner, then one day the “junk food industry” could find itself becoming the new tobacco industry as far as US litigation is concerned. No doubt the issues of causation will be incredibly hard to establish.

But Richard Adamson, a pharmacologist and consultant for the American Beverage Association clearly considers the concept absurd. In a comment made to Bloomberg he said:

“I have never heard of anyone robbing a bank to get money to buy a candy bar or ice cream or pop.”

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