Junk Food is Like Cocaine

Another, more detailed, story on that study showing how eating highly processed food is addicting: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/03/28/fatty.foods.brain/index.html



I found the comparison to cocaine fascinating. Coca leaves have been around for centuries, but it was only once they were purified into cocaine, that it became addictive. In the same way, purifying corn into substances like high fructose corn syrup makes food addictive.

I think the lesson here is that we have to view our own junk food urges in the same way we've treated addictions like nicotine in the past. It's an addiction, and addictions are not easy to get over. It takes more than just willpower, and once the addiction is finely kicked, we can never go back.

More importantly, we have to think apply this research to our children's diets. We may all be addicted to processed foods, but there's still hope for our children.