Are Potato Chips as Addictive as Cocaine?
In 1982 a Scientific American study suggest that potato chips are as addictive as cocaine. Is this a gross over exaggeration? When it comes to the drug-inducing effects of carbs, fats, and sugar on the human brain, it turns out that yes, potato chips and other junk food is addictive.
In 2010 the journal Nature Neuroscience monitored the addictive impact of fattening foods on 3 separate groups of lab rats. They found that the group that rats that had full-access to as much high-sugar and fatty food as they could eat became extremely obese, and their addiction to the unhealthy food became worse over time.
According to Web MD, the reason that people (and rats) choose the unhealthy food over the healthy food is because these unhealthy foods trigger the brain to reduce dopamine. “Once people experience pleasure associated with increased dopamine transmission in the brain’s reward pathway from eating certain foods, they quickly feel the need to eat again.” Web MD points out that it’s not just high-sugar, and high-fat foods that can cause addiction. Foods that are high in salt are also addictive.
