14 DAY TRIAL // Nobody would ever think about snorting donuts. Or injecting some chocolate syrup in their veins, for that matter.
Still, researchers at the Harvard Medical School argue that, according to their investigation, such culinary delights affect the brain in a way strikingly similar to that of cocaine and heroin.
Experiments have shown that these foods activate the same brain patterns that have previously been linked to addiction to said drugs, sources say.
More precisely, they toy with the nucleus accumbens, which happens to be the area of the brain in charge of controlling eating reward and craving.
The researchers theorize this is why some people simply cannot go on a diet, despite their being fully aware that the high sugar snacks they eat every day aren't doing them any good.
“While food is necessary for life, we eat for reasons beyond our daily energy needs. When overeating becomes a pattern that is hard to break, we say someone is ‘addicted’ to food.”
“The fact that a food may affect addiction centres in the brain, independent of calories or pleasure, provides the basis to rethink current dietary recommendations,” Dr. Belinda Lennerz believes.