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You’re most likely to get “addicted” to these foods
Are you addicted to chocolate? Perhaps you could munch on an unlimited supply of French fries? Pizza? Cake? Tim tams?
While many people claim they are “addicted” to certain foods, the concept of food addiction is hotly debated amongst the scientific community. It isn’t an officially recognised addiction but growing evidence suggests that people’s problematic relationships with highly-processed, fatty and sugary foods can follow addiction patterns.
In a new study, Dr. Nicole Avena of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai found that behaviours and attitudes surrounding these types of foods could be considered an addiction.
Dr Avena asked 504 participants to identity their problematic foods. Problem foods were identified using the Yale Food Addiction Scale, which asks participants to count the number of times they’ve agreed with sentences like, “I eat to the point where I feel physically ill” or “I spend a lot of time feeling sluggish or fatigued from overeating”.
Dr Avena then averaged the scores for the food and ranked them from most to least problematic when it came to addiction-like behaviours. Unsurprisingly, most people’s problem foods were highly processed or high in fats and sugars. While it may seem obvious to anyone who’s ever binged on chips or ice cream, Dr Avenue says that this important first step is recognising that only certain types of food are linked to addictive eating behaviour.
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“Several studies really do suggest that highly-palatable, highly-processed foods can produce behaviours and changes in the brain that one would use to diagnose an addiction, like drugs and alcohol,” Dr Avena told The Huffington Post.
But most of those studies were animal studies so research still has a long way to go to definitively prove that certain kinds of foods can be addictive that they damage and re-wire the brain. However, Dr Avena is hopeful that this new research could help re-frame approaches to weight loss.
“This could help change the way we approach obesity treatment,” said Avena in a statement about her study. “It may not be a simple matter of ‘cutting back’ on certain foods, but rather, adopting methods used to curtail smoking, drinking and drug use.”
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Most addictive
Pizza – Rating 4.01
Chocolate - Rating 3.73
Chips – Rating 3.73
Cookies – 3.71
Ice cream - 3.68
Least addictive
Cucumber (no dip) – Rating 1.53
Carrots – Rating 1.60
Apple – Rating 1.66
Brown rice (plain) – Rating 1.74
Related links:
The eight guilt-free foods that burn more calories than they contain
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