Junk Food Similar To a Drug Fix For Obese People
As kid, they warn you about drugs. At first it seems fun, but soon you'll need more and more to get high and before you know it, you're addicted.
Junk food is a lot like drugs. Lay's potato chips even had a marketing slogan, "betcha you can't eat just one." Sounds like a drug pusher to me!
And, a new study claims snack foods may trigger a drug addiction-like response in obese women.
Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers found obese women respond differently to "high-energy" snacks, i.e. junk food, than non-obese women. Healthy-weight women desire less snacks over time, while obese women keep wanting more and more.
Another study showed obese women will actually work harder for a snack food, even though in some cases they didn't like the food anymore, which took experts by surprise. They expected the total opposite reaction.
This could be due to "sensitization" where a person's response to a drug decreases due to repeated use. Understanding this could help better address people's unique dieting needs.
Via HealthDay News.
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Like so many correlations, I wonder if this is the cause or the result of obesity. Do people start out with this different response to junk food, and that is what makes them gain the weight, or do they develop this response once they have gained the weight? That would be more interesting to find out.
ReplyAnother useless study. Someone who is 500lbs is going to have a totally different metabolism than someone who is 150lb (of the same height). Someone who has more muscle mass is going to have a different metabolism than someone who is anorexic... and so on.
That second study mentioned is even more useless.. someone is going to work harder for a snack food if they are obese??? If you maintain a healthy lifestyle.. how hard are you going to "work" to have junk food compared to someone who eats junk regularly?
ReplyI really believe a lot of people have an addiction to junk food. Some people don't even realize it, while others just won't admit it. I'm not clear about the link to obesity though. I know people with this sort of addiction who are pretty thin.
ReplyThey're not thin, they're skinny fat.
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ReplyI don't know. I do think it is a no brainer that obese people would want junk food more than those that are not obese. A healthier person has already acclimated to eating less of this type of food OR they have a better relationship with food than a person that is obese & has more of a "love relationship" with food. Now before you yell at me for that last statement, I have been "fat" so I do know what it is like to have a love relationship with food.. almost a love/hate one!
As far as "working harder" for junk food, it sort of makes sense to me. People who are thin have either learned to reward themselves with something other than food and/or just don't care for the taste of junk food anymore. That's what happened with me...like Jody, I was once fat and when I was fat, I DID have a fairly major addiction to chocolate chip cookie dough and Little Debbie snack cakes. Now, I can't really eat food like that or I'll get kind of sick. I used to use food as my major reward for things...studying for a big test, doing a huge paper, etc. When I stopped doing that, it was easier for me to make healthier choices about what to eat. I can understand that the junk food addiction thing would be more prevalent in women because I think more women than men are "caretakers" and don't get a lot of thanks for what they do all day...food is kind of like their reward for taking care of the kids, cleaning, cooking, working, etc.
ReplyBTW, isn't it odd that in those Lays commercials it's always a young, fit & happy person ingested those chips? You never see a fat dumpy person in those ads - the real consumers!
ReplyI'm the obese one who always eats correctly, yet cook a lot so am near the kitchen-calories often and emotional eater, but choose healthy a vegetarian diet-Got the good oils going for everyone since I do the shopping. Often I suggest fruit instead of candy bars to family members as they carry their soda, chips, and candy for munchies. They are thin, I am obese. They eat junk, me health nut. I guess the calories add up. Weird.
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