Community | August 18, 2010 | 7 comments

Junk-Food Addicted Rats Choose to Starve Rather Than Eat Healthy Food

source: http://www.naturalnews.com/029382_junk_food_rats.html

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(NaturalNews) A diet including unlimited amounts of junk food can cause rats to become so addicted to the unhealthy diet that they will starve themselves rather than go back to eating healthy food, researchers have discovered.

In a series of studies conducted over the course of three years and published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, Scripps Florida scientists Paul Johnson and Paul Kenny have shown that rats' response to unlimited junk food closely parallels well-known patterns of drug addiction -- even down to the changes in brain chemistry.

"What we have are these core features of addiction, and these animals are hitting each one of these features," Kenny said.

In their first study, the researchers fed rats on either a balanced diet or on the same diet plus unlimited access to junk foods purchased at a local supermarket, including processed meats and cakes. Within a short time period, the rats on the junk food diet began to eat compulsively and quickly became overweight.

"They're taking in twice the amount of calories as the control rats," Kenny said.

The researchers hypothesized that the rats were eating compulsively because, like drug addicts, they had become desensitized to smaller amounts and needed more and more for the same rush of pleasure.

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A fat, dumb, weak and sick population won't fight for their rights, in fact they'll fork them over.
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7 comments // Junk-Food Addicted Rats Choose to Starve Rather Than Eat Healthy Food

  • corndog67
  • galwayman
    • -1
      galwayman  

    • So-called "healthy" food tastes like crap! while so- called "unhealthy" food tastes great so it is no big surprise here people! Don't buy into the liberal PC crap! Eat what YOU choose to eat! Life is too short to eat food you hate that tastes like crap in my view!

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
    • 0
      EthicalVegan  
    • galwayman:

      "Life is too short to eat food you hate that tastes like crap in my view!"

      Ahhhh, you almost got a knockdown, but your very last three words -- IN MY VIEW -- save your narrow-minded butt.

    • 1 year ago
  • galwayman
    • -1
      galwayman  
    • EthicalVegan:

      never met a vegan worth arguing with! vegan food looks and tastes like crap,some even looks like vomit lol so you like crap and vomit hey? well good luck to you! I say eat meat it's whats for dinner and all vegan food is just plain disgusting!

    • 1 year ago
  • twohawks
    • 0
      twohawks  

    • This is interesting. First thing that comes to mind is genetically modified foods... biological systems are so strong, and yet so sensitive...., it is not difficult to conceive the possibility that very subtle genetic stimulation in a single specific, and persistent, 'place' (within humans and/or animals, etc) could produce affects we might not even be able to imagine.. whether now or over the long term.

      I also cannot help but wonder if this affect of junk food could be used to an advantage around the ranch, say, in the shed, around the garden.... hmmmm...

    • 1 year ago
  • s_peak
    • +1
      s_peak  

    • Insulin's main function actually doesn't have anything to do with regulating sugar... as large amounts of sugar weren't common in nature. Fruit that has been selectively bred has much higher sugar content than it's ancestors. Even common day "wild fruit" that can be found tends to taste pretty crappy to our overstimulated taste buds.

      As such... sugar is a fairly new (basically man-made) development... and insulin has taken up the task of corralling it, even though it doesn't SEEM to be it's real job:

      "In addition to its role in regulating glucose metabolism, insulin stimulates lipogenesis, diminishes lipolysis, and increases amino acid transport into cells. Insulin also modulates transcription, altering the cell content of numerous mRNAs. It stimulates growth, DNA synthesis, and cell replication, effects that it holds in common with the insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and relaxin."

      Those jobs are incredibly important, in case you didn't notice. Carbohydrates / sugars burn incredibly quickly in your body and are akin to burning paper in a fire. Many studies (and "alternative" practices of diet) show that insulin in the bloodsteam highly disregulates our system, and as such... sugars (being uncommon in nature) are not a preferred fuel for us. So what is?

      Fat! Fats have been given a bad rap because we've been eating the wrong KINDS of fats. When you burn fats instead of sugar, they burn much more slowly. Trans-fats are always bad, though... guess why? They're man-made!

      When you exist on a diet that consists primarily of sugars your body basically becomes highly (physically) addicted to sugar...

      Ketosis, on the other hand, is the state your body is in when it burns fat for fuel instead of sugar. This basically requires a diet that is completely lacking in sugar... for the presence of insulin will completely block your body from achieving ketosis. The food industry we have is basically selling us a cheap, delicious and highly addictive alternative to real food, and has been for some time. When your body is in a ketotic state, you have more energy for longer without feeling hungry. You essentially have a big giant log on your fire as opposed to a clump of tissue paper.

      Stop eating shit, people.

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
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