March 26th, 2010

Is America’s obesity problem really a problem of addictive behavior?

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Could it be that Overeaters Anonymous got it right? That our modern love of fatty, sugary foods is not just a fleeting affair but a fatal attraction – or more precisely, an addiction?

If this were the case, it would place America’s obesity problem in a whole new light, one that cries out for solutions to help people avoid slipping into an addictive behavior that leads to a host of medical problems, from heart disease to diabetes.

In a study published Sunday in the online journal Nature Neuroscience, researchers at Scripps Research Institute in Florida, looked at the biological underpinnings of unhealthy eating by giving lab rats unlimited access to high-fat, high-sugar foods.

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