CHICAGO — Junk food elicits addictive behavior in rats similar to the behaviors of rats addicted to heroin, a new study finds. Pleasure centers in the brains of rats addicted to high-fat, high-calorie diets became less responsive as the binging wore on, making the rats consume more and more food. The results, presented October 20 at the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting, may help explain the changes in the brain that lead people to overeat.
“This is the most complete evidence to date that suggests obesity and drug addiction have common neurobiological underpinnings,” says study coauthor Paul Johnson of the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Fla.
I think there is a more fundamental and alarming trend here. Both the chicken story and this one, are further examples of the results of America's decision to make greed and profit the only social priorities — the core values of our society. We are destroying ourselves as surely as the Easter Islanders cut down the trees upon which their environment and society depended.
