These foods that create dependence comparable to cocaine addiction

Health

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On the body, food can have the same effect as the harshest drugs. This is what an English specialist tried to demonstrate. Like other doctors, Doctor Chris van Tulleken was invited to Parliament to discuss the scourge of junk food. For years now, he has wanted to alert the authorities to the danger of ultra-processed products. Including on health, since they contribute to type 2 diabetes, heart disease and even cancer.

“Poor diet has overtaken tobacco as the leading cause of death worldwide, he says. And a poor diet means an ultra-processed diet.” According to him, if junk food does not create dependence like alcohol, it triggers the same mechanisms in our brain as cocaine by opening our reward pathways.

According to the doctor, it’s similar to how cocaine acts on the brain and can create a strong desire to seek. A psychological dependence induced by cocaine therefore, but also by processed foods. A speech supported by Max Pemberton, psychiatrist at the National Health Service. ““Patients just can’t seem to stop eating processed foods and feel out of control,” he describes.

“This doesn’t happen with other types of foods. Cravings can be extreme as our brains try to trick us into activating this reward pathway again and again.”, says the specialist. According to him, this reaction “is not a coincidence” but rather a desire on the part of the manufacturers. “C“Foods are carefully crafted to maximize the effect they have on our reward pathways, making them incredibly appealing.”he said.

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Junk food, harmful physically and mentally?

“But for many people, these types of highly processed foods form a mainstay of their diet. For many, processed foods are an essential nutritional source, present at every meal, often multiple times.”, the doctor worries. What does he fear the most? That children become addicted to this type of food which is harmful to health.

“There is clear evidence of the negative impact of ultra-processed foods, not only on physical health, but also on mental health. A Harvard study last year found that consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) increased the risk of depression, For example”, he writes again. According to him, the solution lies in forcing companies to warn their consumers.