Food Addiction Like a Cocaine?

Your craving for fatty foods is a lot like a drug addicts craving for cocaine or heroin.

A new study in rats suggests that high-fat, high-calorie foods affect the brain in much the same way as cocaine and heroin. The study published online in Nature Neuroscience shows eating a lot of sugary, fatty foods programs your brain to want more.

When rats consume these foods in great enough quantities, it leads to compulsive eating habits that resemble drug addiction.

Eating too much junk food overloads the pleasure centers in the brain. Eventually the pleasure centers 'crash', and to achieve the same pleasure requires more and more of the stimulant.

The findings shed light on the part of the brain that drives overeating and could even lead to new treatments for obesity.