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Fast food may be addictive, say scientists
News in Science - ABC Australia ^
| Feb 3 2003
| Reuters
Posted on 02/19/2003 12:36:17 PM PST by vannrox
A steady diet of hamburgers, fries and foods high in fat and loaded with calories may not only pile on the pounds - it could also be addictive, say scientists.
Researchers who have been studying the biological effects of fast foods are discovering that they can trigger hormonal changes in the body which could make it difficult to control eating.
"New and potentially explosive findings on the biological effects of fast food suggest that eating yourself into obesity isn't simply down to a lack of self-control," New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.
Fast food meals can deliver nearly the recommended daily calorie and fat intake in one meal. As people put on weight, they become more resistant to the hormone leptin, which is strongly linked to weight and appetite, and a brain peptide called galanin that stimulates eating.
Leptin releases signals to the part of the brain that co-ordinates eating behaviour but as people gain weight they become more resistant to the effects of the hormone.
"Their brain loses its ability to respond to these hormones as body fat increases," Professor Michael Schwartz, an endocrinologist at the University of Washington in Seattle, told the magazine.
Animal studies by Associate Professor Sarah Leibowitz, at Rockefeller University in New York, have also shown that young rats fed a high fat diet early in life grew up to be obese adults.
Researchers are also looking into whether bingeing on foods high in fat and sugar cause changes in the brain associated with addiction to drugs.
"Highly palatable foods and highly potent sexual stimuli are the only stimuli capable of activating the dopamine system with anywhere near the potency of addictive drugs," according to Professor Bartley Hoebel, a psychologist at Princeton University in New Jersey.
But the magazine said other scientists argue there is no conclusive evidence that foods high in fat and sugar are addictive.
"Considering the paucity of evidence that fast food is addictive, I think the burden is on advocates of the addiction argument to provide evidence of addictiveness," said Dr Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Centre for Science in the Public Interest, a lobby group in Washington.
Reuters
More Info?
Blurred line between food and drugs, News In Science 26 Jul 1999
Science serves up the perfect bag of chips, News in Science 9 Jun 2000
Exercise more or less food, News in Science 10 Jul 2001
|
© ABC 2003 | privacy
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: adictive; discovery; fast; food; science
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To: vannrox
There should be a law against suits structure to induce settlement as their primary goal. (jessie jackson) This is not about the merits this is about mutlimillion attorney fees and a coupon for a free salad for clients.
To: vannrox
That's silly.
Where's my Whopper??
To: Just another Joe
Joe, I think I'll go with the goldfish response here.
They say a goldfish will eat to the size of it's bowl.
I used to live in a little five room ranch.
Now I live in a fourteen room Victorian.
Please, Uncle Guv, save me from hitting my bowl size!
23
posted on
02/19/2003 1:24:39 PM PST
by
metesky
(My retirement fund is holding steady @ $.05 a can.)
To: dead
Has anybody noticed how Dick Morris is looking more and more like Jiminy Glick?
To: vannrox
I've been addicted to food since April 9th, 1951.
FMCDH
25
posted on
02/19/2003 1:50:12 PM PST
by
nothingnew
(the pendulum always swings back and the socialists are now in the pit)
To: vannrox
OH NO...here we go...down the same road as the Tobacco industry.
If a person smokes, they are KNOWINGLY taking their lives in their own hands. The tobacco industry didn't hold a gun to anyone's head to force them to smoke.
The same goes for fast food - it's a decision.
To: vannrox
Ridiculous! I've been eating that stuff for forty years. It's not addictive.
27
posted on
02/19/2003 2:19:48 PM PST
by
onedoug
To: vannrox
This study is totally bogus (say are you going to finish those fries?), fast food is not addictive (say can I "supersize" it?). I mean I can stop anytime (hey do you mind if I wash this down?). I mean what are these guys thinking? (No, I said "extra cheese").
28
posted on
02/19/2003 2:24:16 PM PST
by
dfwgator
To: vannrox
What a bunch crap... I quit eating fast food a year ago and lost 40 pounds... it wasn't addictive , it was delicious.
I still miss it..... sob.
To: vannrox
I just don't know what to say about this.Try this: Soft science explains soft bodies.
30
posted on
02/19/2003 2:32:26 PM PST
by
pfflier
To: vannrox
Isn't all food addictive pretty much the same as oxygen is addictive? And water? I mean if I don't breath regularly each day I go into some pretty serious withdrawal symtoms.
31
posted on
02/19/2003 2:59:19 PM PST
by
joebuck
(joebuck is still chasing the green light at the end of Daisy's dock.)
To: Ophiucus
Junk Food Junkie
Larry Groce
Written by Larry Groce
Released by Warner Bros. Records in 1976; playing time, 3:03
Was Groce's only hit, making it as high as #9 on the _Billboard_ Hot 100
You know I love that organic cooking
I always ask for more
And they call me Mr. Natural
On down to the health food store
I only eat good sea salt
White sugar don't touch my lips
And my friends is always
Begging me to take them
On macrobiotic trips
Yes, they are
Oh, but at night I take out my strongbox
That I keep under lock and key
And I take it off to my closet
Where nobody else can see
I open that door so slowly
Take a peek up north and south
Then I pull out a Hostess Twinkie
And I pop it in my mouth
Yeah, in the daytime I'm Mr. Natural
Just as healthy as I can be
But at night I'm a junk food junkie
Good lord have pity on me
Well, at lunchtime
You can always find me
At the Whole Earth Vitamin Bar
Just sucking on my plain white yogurt
From my hand thrown pottery jar
And sippin' a little hand pressed cider
With a carrot stick for dessert
And wiping my face
In a natural way
On the sleeve of my peasant shirt
Oh yeah
Ah, but when that clock strikes midnight
And I'm all by myself
I work that combination
On my secret hideaway shelf
And I pull out some Fritos corn chips
Dr. Pepper and an Ole Moon Pie
Then I sit back in glorious expectation
Of a genuine junk food high
Oh yeah, in the daytime I'm Mr. Natural
Just as healthy as I can be
But at night I'm a junk food junkie
Good lord have pity on me
My friends down at the commune
They think I'm pretty neat
Oh, I don't know nothing about arts and crafts
But I give 'em all something to eat
I'm a friend to old Euell Gibbons
And I only eat homegrown spice
I got a John Keats autographed Grecian urn
Filled up with my brown rice
Yes, I do
Oh, but folks lately I have been spotted
With a Big Mac on my breath
Stumbling into a Colonel Sanders
With a face as white as death
I'm afraid someday they'll find me
Just stretched out on my bed
With a handful of Pringles Potato Chips
And a Ding Dong by my head
In the daytime I'm Mr. Natural
Just as healthy as I can be
But at night I'm a junk food junkie
Good lord have pity on me
32
posted on
02/19/2003 3:45:31 PM PST
by
jiggyboy
To: vannrox
"Highly palatable foods and highly potent sexual stimuli are the only stimuli capable of activating the dopamine system with anywhere near the potency of addictive drugs"
Sorry, couldn't resist posting a link to a similar story in my favorite sleazy tabloid:
Fast food sends schoolgirls into sexual feeding frenzy.
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