Junk food equals heroin in addiction

At least it does for lab rats. The more they consumed, the more they needed to consume to get the same pleasure feeling.

After just five days on the junk food diet, rats showed “profound reductions” in the sensitivity of their brains’ pleasure centers, suggesting that the animals quickly became habituated to the food. As a result, the rats ate more food to get the same amount of pleasure. Just as heroin addicts require more and more of the drug to feel good, rats needed more and more of the junk food. “They lose control,” Kenny says. “This is the hallmark of addiction.”

The effects lasted for days afterward.

The problems are exacerbated if saturated fat is in the mix.