We have
suspected this for quite some time, but a study in rats reported in the journal
Neuroscience has found that over-consumption of high-calorie food can trigger
addiction-like responses in the brain, and that junk food can turn rats into
compulsive eaters in a laboratory setting. When the researchers regularly
offered rats a choice of high-calorie foods such as bacon, sausage, cake, and
chocolate in addition to their regular food choices, the animals over-consumed
calories and gained weight rapidly. The study gets even more interesting,
the team trained their rats to expect painful foot shocks when seeing a light
signal. Although normal rats stop eating even the most delicious junk
food when the light comes on, the obese rats used to the high-calorie diet just
keep feeding. The desire for junk food overcame the fear of pain.
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