Why is junk food so addictive?

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We eat it even though we know it is bad for us. Why does this happen? Companies design the foods this way to be addictive.  Because more and more people are starting to watch what they eat and the ingredients in the food they eat, companies are going to start telling people that these foods are okay to eat. Some people believe that junk food addictions start from the womb.

According to http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2402746/Food-addiction-DOES-exist-Junk-food-activates-region-brain-hard-drugs.html, that “sugar snacks activate areas of brain that are also stimulated by hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin.

Studies have shown and it is obvious that junk food companies spend billions of dollars on marketing for their products and figuring out what ingredients to put i0n the food so buyers will become addicted and continue to buy that product. According to studies, we are addicted to junk food because our bodies cannot handle the sugar, fat, and salt in the product.

In conclusion, I think that these companies put so much money and time into thinking how they can make their products addictive. The sugars, salts, and fats are too much for our bodies to handle at one time. These foods will continue to be addictive until companies stop putting these chemicals and money into marketing for them.

3 thoughts on “Why is junk food so addictive?

  1. Jenna Rae Stoklosa

    You mentioned in your blog post that some people believe a junk food addiction can start in the womb. Are there actual experiments to back this up? Because if so I think that would be a great study to look at and see how what mothers eat when they are pregnant effects what the baby will eat once he or she is born. My mom always jokes that the reason I love ice cream so much is because she ate a lot of it when she was pregnant with me, but maybe that could be the actual reason for my love for ice cream.

  2. Jennifer Lynn Finkelstein

    Whenever I eat sugary foods like this I always wonder why once I stop i instantly want more. This makes so much sense!! maybe elaborate on what kind of experiment can be conducted in order to prove that these types of foods are addicting!

  3. Nick Jacoubs

    I for one have a huge sweet tooth. I’ve always wondered what drives the human body to crave all these gross and yucky junk foods. Turns out that since humans started out as hunter gatherers, our bodies worked a certain way in order to survive. As hunter gatherers, humans had a high amount of exercise and nutrition but a low amount of calories. Today, we find ourselves getting significantly less exercise and nutrition, but an inflated quantity of calories. Our biology is still wired to desire calories, fat, and carbs thanks to our hunter gatherer ancestors. However, it takes significantly less effort to obtain these things and often times the foods we eat lack the necessary nutritional value that our body desires. All these factors answer your question; we are addicted to junk food because our biology craves it thanks to our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

    Works Cited:
    United Health Care. “Why We Crave Junk Food and What to Do About it – Be Well Philly.” Philadelphia Magazine. Philadelphia Magazine, 17 June 2013. Web. 12 Oct. 2014. .

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