Wall Street Journal - Study: New Evidence for Food Addiction

 By Shirley S. Wang

Can food be addictive? A new study on the often-debated question suggests that some of the same changes in brain pathways that develop with drug addiction also appear with compulsive eating.

As rats in the study consumed more high-calorie foods and became obese, the parts of the brain associated with pleasure began responding in the same way they do when activated by cocaine or heroin, the study found. Rats who didn’t have access to junk food didn’t exhibit the same brain changes in the dopamine receptors.

Even after the rats given high-calorie foods no longer had access to them, the brain changes persisted. The study was published yesterday in Nature Neuroscience. 

“The results of this study could provide insight into a mechanism for obesity,” Paul Kenny, an author on the study and professor at Scripps Research Institute, said in a statement. “It’s possible that drugs developed to treat addiction may also benefit people who are habitual overeaters.”

Read the blog post on the Wall Street Journal here.

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