Are You Hooked on These Highly Addictive Foods?

Can’t resist a slice – or two or three – of pizza?  You may well be addicted.

Researchers from the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan and the New York Obesity Research Center at the Mount Sinai – St. Luke’s Hospital in New York observed that addictive foods share common traits with highly addictive drugs.

Like other drug problems, they say, “food addiction” is characterized by:

And neuro-imaging studies show similar brain patterns in “food addicts” and drug addicts.  In particular both show increased activation of the reward regions of the brain in response to food cues – just like other addictions.

Although you may have your own suspicions, human studies haven’t confirmed which foods are most likely to trigger an addiction.  Animal studies suggest that highly processed foods like Oreo Double Stuf cookies, cheesecake, and icing set off binges.

To get a better handle on what foods are most likely to get the better of people, the researchers asked about 500 people to complete a Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) survey to determine which of 35 foods were most associated with problem eating behaviors.

Problem behaviors included trouble cutting down on the food, or losing control over how much of the food was eaten, or feeling that you aren’t eating enough of the food.

The foods in the survey fit into four categories:

In general, the researchers found that processed foods high in fat and having a high glycemic load, were most frequently associated with addictive eating behaviors. The glycemic load measures how quickly a standard serving of a particular food will spike your blood sugar.

There was an interesting exception. The researchers found that men had more of a problem with some unprocessed foods (e.g., steak, nuts, cheese) than women did.

Here’s the list:

Although some of the foods on the list are unprocessed, the researchers observed that processing tends to result in a higher concentration of addictive substances in a food with the addition of fat, carbs, and sugar. In other words, the dose of fat and sugar you get in cake or pizza is much higher than you would find in nature. And, they note, the combination of fat and sugar in a single food rarely occurs in nature.

In addition to concentrating the dose, processing accelerates the rate at which the addictive substances are absorbed in the bloodstream.  Processing removes fiber, protein, and water which naturally slow down absorption. It speeds up blood sugar spikes which are known to activate areas of the brain involved in addiction.

Animal studies prove sugar is highly addictive.  It leads animals to binge and, when it’s removed from their diet, it gives rise to withdrawal symptoms like anxiety, teeth chattering, and aggression.

If you don’t lose control around any of the foods on the list, count yourself lucky.  The researchers observed that some people seem to have a predisposition for addiction.  When that predisposition comes up against an addictive food, problem bingeing results.