March 28, 2010

Watch out, bacon, here comes science!

Just you wait.  I guarantee that some congresscritter is going to throw a fit about this study and insist that we outlaw bacon.  If that doesn't make us all fight back, then, my friends - nothing will.

Scientists have finally confirmed what the rest of us have suspected for years: Bacon, cheesecake, and other delicious yet fattening foods may be addictive.

A new study in rats suggests that high-fat, high-calorie foods affect the brain in much the same way as cocaine and heroin. When rats consume these foods in great enough quantities, it leads to compulsive eating habits that resemble drug addiction, the study found.

Doing drugs such as cocaine and eating too much junk food both gradually overload the so-called pleasure centers in the brain, according to Paul J. Kenny, Ph.D., an associate professor of molecular therapeutics at the Scripps Research Institute, in Jupiter, Florida. Eventually the pleasure centers "crash," and achieving the same pleasure--or even just feeling normal--requires increasing amounts of the drug or food, says Kenny, the lead author of the study.

Imagine it - illicit bacon and cheesecake trade, in the seedy dark alleys, late at night.  The DEA coming after you for owning Twinkies.  You can see it happening.  Admit it.

Posted by: Ember at 11:30 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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