A research published earlier this year suggests that junk foods such as pizza, French fries, ice cream and chocolate chips can be addicting.
Researchers from University of Michigan conducted the first ever study to determine if a person can really become addicted to a food as much as one can be addicted to drinking, smoking and drug use.
In the study, CNN reported that the researchers asked a group of 120 undergraduates' students at the University of Michigan, and another group of almost 400 adults, regarding 35 different types of food -- from pizza to broccoli - if they think they'll have a problem controlling how much they ate out of the food listed, eighteen of the food items were processed foods rich in sugars and fats.
The results were in and they found out that processed food such as pizza is on top of the list followed by chocolate, chips, cookies, ice cream, French fries, cake and soda. Cheese and bacon came in close second, although both unprocessed, but still high in fat and salt. Strawberries, carrots and broccoli, were at the bottom of the list.
Erica Schulte, graduate student of psychology at the University of Michigan and lead author of the study said, "In a similar manner that drugs are processed to increase their addictive potential, this study provides insight that highly processed foods may be intentionally manufactured to be particularly rewarding through the addition of fat and refined carbohydrates, like white flour and sugar."
Those foods that caused a spike in blood sugar tends to be more addictive since it is high in glycemic load in a similar way that drugs highly concentrated and quickly absorbed into the body. They also noted that among their 400 adults participants, those with high BMI's and those who were at risk of having any kind of food addiction were most likely to have difficulty controlling themselves around a particular food item.
Morever, the researchers assessed food addiction risk using the Yale Food Addiction Scale, developed by the study's lead author, Ashley N. Gearhardt.
You can test your risk of having a food addiction by taking a short version of this survey.
