Sunday November 1, 2009, 1:51 pm
"Scientists" are extremely well paid people with research to do...If no results are published then their grant will be rescinded...

Has it not occured to anyone that "scientists" need money to live, but many are idiots?...

Is Junk food really addictive?...Get real!

Sunday November 1, 2009, 2:09 pm
Whatever; smack is probably better for you.

Sunday November 1, 2009, 6:02 pm
In my way of thinking scientists have always go something bad to say about everything we like I think its a case of Its immoral, its illegal or it makes you fat!!! TY Tom Love & Light

Sunday November 1, 2009, 6:13 pm
Repression of joy is a way of life here in NZ.
If we can legislate to curb your enthusiasm we will, well our knee-jerk politicians will, like the scientists they think they know what's good for us; unlike the politicians though it's possible that the scientists are sometimes right.

Sunday November 1, 2009, 6:48 pm
I know that quitting the junk food habit was very hard on me.

Sunday November 1, 2009, 7:32 pm
Just imagine the highly educated flavor scientists working for the junk food industry devising ways to addict people who dare take just one bite! Little bit of Halloween horror here.....

Sunday November 1, 2009, 9:43 pm
David, your post makes no sense at all. Who would pay a scientist to say junk food is bad? The vegetable lobby? I don't think so. If junk food isn't addictive, don't you think the junk food pushers like McDonald's, Lay's, Dryer's etc. could afford to pay a scientist to counter this view if it were possible?

If you think junk food is not addictive, I don't know what planet you live on. Have you ever heard the old Lays Potato Chips slogan, "I bet you can't eat just one"? Why do you think Coca-Cola put cocaine in their "secret formula" until it was banned, then substituted caffeine? They design their products to be addictive to increase sales. This is a no brainer, but now we have scientific proof.

I wish people would bother to read articles before they comment on them. As the article says in the first paragraph, "As it happens, a group of researchers from the independent, not-for-profit Scripps Research Institute has just released a new peer-reviewed study on the subject. The conclusion: the brain responds to junk food the same way it does to heroin." What part of "independent, not-for-profit" don't you understand?

Sunday November 1, 2009, 10:20 pm
The idea of junk food is to make money, so it's not surprising that it's designed to be addictive.

Monday November 2, 2009, 12:10 am
I reckon this article is spot on, Tom. Junk food is cheap,easily accessible,universally recognised and is definitely addictive.
There are always some people who open their mouths before they put their brains into gear. "independent,not-for-profit" isn't that hard to understand.

Monday November 2, 2009, 12:43 am
It is the same like with cigarettes. The purpose is NOT to make people healthier.

Monday November 2, 2009, 1:04 am
i believe it is

Monday November 2, 2009, 1:27 am
It seems to me that there are an awful lot of studies which cost a fortune in tax dollars or pounds depending on which side of the pond you occupy. Many resulting in death and destruction of sentient creatures to produce results which are self explanatory and even patently obvious to a rational human being with just the benefit of half a brain. Surely a society that "reads" (note to my US friends this publication which has recently changed it's allegiance from left to right is mostly pictures and scantily clad females!) the Sun in the UK and whatever the equivilent rubbish is in the US apart from listening to Fox. Has a diet of "diet cola", over priced coffee variants, deep fried cholesterol, chocolate everything, bush burgers with fries cooked in recycled engine oil, whilst cleansing their hands, work surfaces etc with umpteen noxious chemicals, and similtaneously voting for some of the collection of ill assorted idiots that come and go on the political stage. The only possible answer is mass addiction to those products and activities! Withdrawal symptoms can currently be seen for example in the American right wing with fits of throwing the toys out of their collective prams. No doubt if there is a change of regime in the UK next year we will see the same nonsense occurring here! Every where you go people are stuffing their faces with unessary snacks and junk food because they have been told they must by multi million dollar ad campaigns and well entrenched addiction having taken over the minds of much of our populations. Add petrol/gas addiction, status anxiety addiction, smoke/nicotine addiction, alcohol abuse, solvent abuse. Cell/mobile phone addiction where the sufferer has the instrument surgically attached to their ear. Diminutive male genitalia obsessive over compensation syndrome and any number of sub devisions of mental illness and you have our wonderful, big business/political/media inspired disfunctional society! The obsessive persuit of profit by the greedy has a lot to answer for in the OCD ridden board rooms of the world! Anyone for a desert island or monastic retreat or along slow tree hug?

Monday November 2, 2009, 5:41 am
I have definitely seen several people "addicted" to Coke or Dr. Pepper. They almost had "withdrawal" signs if they did not have their Coke right there with them almost all day. None of them drank coffee, but there is no telling in a days time how many super large cups of Coke or Dr. Pepper they drank. And I don't think it was just the caffeine. So, I do feel there is some correlation between food, possibly junk foods, and feeling a strong need, almost addictive for people with issues with addictive personality to have issues with food or junk food.

Monday November 2, 2009, 5:46 am
That is what keeps scientist in a job. A year from now on they will say different about junk food. What I dont understand, every year they do the same tests and every year different results.

Monday November 2, 2009, 6:01 am
Thank you for the story. In my research, there are additives that are put into junk food much like fast food that create the metabolism to speed up but at the same time, crave complex carbs such as chips and so on.

So it is my belief junk food is addictive, but as much as heroin? I don't know about that, but it is in my opinion.

Thank you.

Nick J Davis
Toronto ON Canada

Monday November 2, 2009, 8:25 am
Which is as a good a reason for closing down Huntingdown Death Science as any might want, the repitition of flawed science for the sake of big business the reverse psychology will have the addicts believing it's not their fault which excuse their continued addiction and consumption of crap food! To paraphrase Oscar Wilde some of these "scientific" studies seem like; "The over educated in pursuit of the indigestible" of which the original was the "Unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible" which was his take on English foxhunting! Another addiction the participants cannot give even though it is illegal to hunt with dogs in the UK! Now where did I put that MSG! There has got to be an E number in there somewhere!

Monday November 2, 2009, 1:15 pm
Junk food is definitely addictive!
Thanks Tom, and thanks chris b (enjoyed the paraphrasing)

Monday November 2, 2009, 1:33 pm
Scientists discovered an ingredient similar to MSG in almost all processed foods even in bagged salads that contribute to this problem of addiction. Much of the addiction problem is in the head but also "junk food" has no long lasting qualities as comparred to whole grain foods, and natural fruits and veggies. The fiber in all natural (untouched by humans )food has fiber that is really important in filling up the stomach and because this fiber is insoluble it is not rapidly digested so the person eating it feels full longer. With candy bars made with all refined ingredients except the nuts the sugars go rapidly to the blood stream into the brain and then are gone rapidly, much in the same way drugs affect the brain. This is why processed and refined foods are so bad for the body, and the brain as the brain gets all the nesessary nutrients first before it goes anyewhere else. Rapid rise and fall of blood sugars and triglycerides from refined sugars and flours is what is contributing to type 2 diabetes. No exercise to burn those sugars compund the problems. Thanks Tom

Tuesday November 3, 2009, 1:47 am
cravings is right! and the term junk food, which describes so much of too many eat today, tells us not to eat it, there are of course some alternatives to that junk food, read the labels, if it has more than the food item listed, at least think about it. I hear so many say it is too costly to buy natural foods, and I say 'huh?' 50 cents for an apple compared to a dollar for a candy bar?
ty for some great comments and ty Tom

Tuesday November 3, 2009, 2:39 am
Junk food may be as addictive as heroin, but we still have one more addiction.......sex. Well, of course, we need to keep the junkies over 18!

Tuesday November 3, 2009, 8:21 am
Thanks for the informative artical, I aways finds that chips seem to be addictive for me, hard to stop eating once you start. So I don't buy them very often, I just have the occasional packet now and then and make sure I share them so I eat less.