Fat Addiction

A study published online in Nature Neuroscience has found laboratory rats eating high-fat food showed similar characteristics as those addicted to hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin. Researchers suggest excess food intake can trigger changes in the brain that seem to create a neurochemical dependency in the eater. Pleasurable activities such as sex, drug use and eating can trigger the release of dopamine, a feel-good neurotransmitter in the brain, which increases the likelihood that the associated action will eventually become habitual through positive reinforcement conditioning. Despite various studies, researchers have yet to ascertain if extreme overeating is initiated by a chemical irregularity in the brain or if the behavior is changing the brain's biochemical structure.