Junk Food

Junk food as Addictive as Street Drugs

by David Gutierrez, staff writer

(NaturalNews) Scientists are increasingly becoming convinced that junk food can be just as physically addictive as street drugs like heroin.

Researchers at Rockefeller University have found that foods high in fat and sugar cause the brain to release many of the same pleasure chemicals that produce drug addiction, including cortisol, dopamine, galanin and serotonin. Over time, regular consumption of junk food can create imbalances in these chemicals, leading us to eat more and more in order to restore normal levels.

"They cause us to have more cravings," said Rosa Lopez, of the New York Department of Health. "There are physiological changes."

A recent study by researchers from the Scripps Research Institute confirmed this long-term effect by feeding rats either a healthy diet, a healthy diet plus limited amounts of junk food, or a healthy diet plus unlimited amounts of junk food. While rats in the first two groups remained healthy, rats in the third group binged on junk food and quickly became obese.

"You lose control. It's the hallmark of addiction," researcher Paul Kenny said.

When researchers then directly stimulated the pleasure centers in the rats' brains, they found that the obese rats needed more stimulation than the other rats to achieve the same effect. This suggests that their junk food diet had actually dulled their brain's pleasure centers, creating dependency.

"This is the most complete evidence to date that suggests obesity and drug addiction have common neuro-biological foundations," researcher Paul Johnson said.

Because ending a junk food addiction may be as difficult as quitting smoking, Lopez recommends tackling just one bad habit at first. Cutting out soda can be a good place to start.

"In some ways, you may have to view junk foods the way alcoholics anonymous views alcohol: one bite is too many, and a thousand is not enough," writes Jack Challem in his book The Food-Mood Solution.

To learn more about the importance of a healthy diet, read the free NaturalNews.com report Nutrition Can Save America! at
http://www.naturalnews.com/report_N....

Sources for this story include: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/h... http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruce....

Suzanne

Junk Food

Of the more than 11,000 new food products that came on the market in one recent year, more than two-thirds were snacks, candy, baked goods, ice creams, soft drinks and similar items. And, unfortunately, about 90% of American food dollars are spent on processed foods.(Canada most likely has similar figures). Thanks to the "better health through chemistry" mentality, food manufactures can now separate parts of it, thicken it, emulsify it, flavor it, color it, and embalm it.

Companies are tripping over each other in a race to concoct new "foods" by flavoring and coloring some combination of sugar, oil, water and refined flour with sufficient additives and preservatives to make a pretty offering. People can literally go all day without real food. --adapted from Health and Healing Wisdom, Vol. 28, No. 4.

Suzanne

Junk Food, con't

From my files:

* Heart disease is surfacing in 19 and 20-year olds, etc. who have been eating junk food since they were kids

* We wouldn't put sand in our car's gas tank, yet every day people put the nutritional equivalent of sand into their bodies.

* The Terrible "C's"--cigarettes, cocktails, canapes, cakes, cookies, chips, cream, caffeine. ...highly processed, sweetened pap makes up a large part of so many folk's diet.

* National suicide--the North American public is subsisting mostly on processed foods.

* Modern North America's "mad diet"--hot dogs, greasy hamburgers, chemical preservatives and additives, etc. results in bad skin, falling, greying hair, nervousness, Road Rage and other complaints.

* Most patients want to eat all the junk food they can devour and then take a pill to cure them.

* So many in North America feast on ice cream, Twinkies, Big Macs and Doritos.

* No rancher or dog or horse breeder would think of feeding his animals pretzels, potato chips, artificial pudding and Coca Cola.

* Junk food may be cheap, but you pay a high price in bad health.

* Rebellious teens, eating too much junk food. Sets them off, makes them nervous and aggressive.

* Withdrawal symptoms when getting off junk food.

* Fast food--fast fade.

* Yes, it's time to cut way down on this type of food for your health's sake.

Suzanne

A Startling Cause of Overeating!

Prelininary laboratory data indicates that using artificial sweeteners may throw off the body's natural ability to monitor how many calories are consumed! Why? In a nutshell, Purdue University researchers explain that taking in a lot of artificial sweeteners diminishes the body's ability to gauge how many calories it takes in, so when you do eat treats sweetened with sugar, you're more likely to go overboard!

Suzanne

Registered dietitian, Elizabeth Somer has some words of advice: "It's almost trite, but we wouldn't put sand in our car's gas tank, yet every day people put the nutritional equivalent of sand into their body. The quality of your nutritional fuel throughout your life is essential to your emotional well-being, your ability to think and be creative, to problem solve, and to have the energy to want to."

She makes the point that everyone needs lots of the basics: veggies and fruit, whole grains legumes,etc. which should compose a large share of our daily bill of fare. Missing out on these can undermine health and energy--and set your aging clock on fast forward. And remember to cut way back on processed foods; as they are typically lower in vitamins, minerals, and fiber, and higher in fat and sugar, than wholesome, minimally processed foods. Yes, select the oatmeal, not the granola bar,; the potato, not the chips, the whole wheat bread, not the white bread; and the fresh fruit, not the fruit punch. --Prevention, July 1999.

Suzanne

Why You Can't Eat Just One

Have you noticed that healthful foods rarely leave you yearning for seconds, but you can scarf down a lot of potato chips, ice cream, and cookies and still want more. Science is beginning to understand why the more you eat junk food, the more you want it. The answer lies in part with an unusual effect these foods have on the body's appetite-regulating system.

Swedish researchers examined the complex system of signals that govern hunger and satiety, or fullness. Under normal circumstances, a low supply of calories stimulates the release of "hunger hormones," such as ghrelin, that tell the brain it's time to dine. As you eat, the intestines and other organs begin to secrete "satiety hormones," including insulin and leptin, to signal that you're getting full and ready to stop eating.

But those yummy sugar- and fat-laden foods seem to disrupt this finely tuned system, stimulating a false sensation of hunger. Furthermore, because the taste experience of such treats is far more intense than that of other foods, it leads to increased secretion of feel-good chemicals such as dopamine and serotonin. Food intake becomes driven by those chemical "rewards" rather than by hunger. So while moderate amounts of healthful fats, such as nuts and olive oil, can help in weight control by keeping you feeling full longer than simple carbs, overdoing it has the opposite effect.

The unique ability of junk food to thwart your appetite-regulating system makes it important to consciously limit consumption of these foods. Save sugary and fat-laden foods for special occasions; and even then, enjoy them in small portions. Individually wrapped sweets are available, removing the temptation (somewhat) to eat the whole bag or box. Of course, enlightened restraint can always help and should certainly be implemented. --adapted from Consumer Reports on Health, March 2006.

Suzanne

Junk Food Additives Stop Nerve Cell Growth

Mixing the common food additives aspartame, an artificial sweetener, and monosodium glutamate (MSG) causes nerve cell damage, according to researchers at the University of Liverpool. The results from a two-year study were published in the journal Toxicological Sciences.

The researchers found the additives were much more potent in combination with each other than on their own. Laboratory animals were exposed to concentrations of MSG and aspartame relative to what a child would receive in an average snack and drink. The researchers were surprised to see the additives interfered with nerve signaling systems and actually stopped the nerve cells from growing. Aspartame is commonly found in diet drinks, candies and flavored medicines, while MSG is frequently added to chips, processed cheese and various other processed foods. --Well Being Journal, May/June 2006.

Suzanne

Eating Junk Food During Pregrancy Raises Newborn's Risk of Diabetes, Obesity

Eating junk food during pregnancy raises the chance of having obese children who are more susceptible to diabetes, according to a Royal Veterinary College, London study. Here researchers found that eating donuts, potato chips, cookies, candy, and various other white sugar and white flour products, during pregnancy can be a major factor in causing obesity and diabetes in children.

"In Western society, the proportion of obese children is increasing," said researcher professor Neil Stickland. "Childhood obesity is associated with a range of disorders, including heart disease, arthritis and the increasingly earlier onset of type 2 diabetes, which have important consequences on an individual's quality of life."

Stickland added that, while efforts to improve food in schools are positive steps, it is also important to educate mothers on the consequences of indulging in sugary and fatty foods during pregnancy. "Eating large quantities of junk food when pregnant and breastfeeding could be causing irreversible damage to their unborn children and could send their offspring on the road to obesity and early onset of diabetes," he warned.

The study was published in The Journal of Physiology,... Now Stickland and colleagu Dr. Stephanie Bayol are studying the long-term effects of poor diet during pregnancy, as well as the possible effects on promoting hyperactive behavior.

"Eating junk food during pregnancy is extremely harmful to a developing fetus," said Mike Adams, author of Grocery Warning and proponent of prenatal nutrition. "To maximize the health of the child, all food adulterations and additives should be avoided, including hydrogenated oils, refined sugars, chemical sweeteners and preservatives. Failure to avoid these ingredients will greatly increase the child's future risk of diabetes, heart disease, learning disabilities, cancer and even schizophrenia." --NewsTarget.com

Suzanne

Limiting Junk Food Ads!

Childhood obesity has tripled among U.S. teens since 1980, while doubling among younger American kids. "A serious approach to childhood obesity would not allow corporations to appeal directly to children and convince them to eat foods that harm their health," declares Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).

Ten of the country's largest food manufacturers--including Campbell Soup Co., Coca-Cola Co., General Mills Inc., Hershey Co., Kellogg Co., Kraft Foods Inc., McDonald's Corp., and PepsiCo Inc.--recently agreed to rein in their junk food ads on TV and video games. But "while the council of Better Business Bureaus labored like an elephant, it came forth with a mouse," Jacobson noted of these voluntary guidelines.

"The only changes from the status quo in these guidelines occur at the fringes," he explains. "If a 'healthy lifestyle message' means that Ronald McDonald is pedaling a bike while peddling junk food, that message still does more harm than good."

Bottom line? Parents have the responsibility of continuing to monitor their children's viewing habits, discussing the differences between healthy, whole foods and junk. And resist kids' requests for high-calorie, nutrient-light foods. --Taste for Life, January 2007.

Suzanne

How do you define "Junk Food" here?

One man's junk is another man's treasure. Ha! However, temperance and moderation in all things (except those things expressly prohibited by God). A small amount of refined, processed junk food every once in a great while isn't going to end a life or make it less useful.

And if it does lead you to die younger, you at least was happier for the shorter while. Or something like that..

Thank you Suzanne, for those articles.... Makes me think of this quote ~
Most Adventists don't really believe this ....

Tammy, how do you know "most Adventists" in 2010 disagree with what Ellen White wrote about it? There are over 16 million SDAs worldwide. Have you polled them to discern what the majority believe? If not, on what authority or expertise do you make such a statement?

I have to agree with Tammy, MM. Most Adventist [I've met or know] don't really believe [or follow] this....

I think there needs to be a distinction of terms. It is possible for one to agree and believe, but not follow.

When you look out over a congregation and see the effects of their choices, you would have to conclude most either don't know (because it hasn't been preached), don't believe, or don't follow. You go to potlucks, and it's apparent most don't follow. You see the attendance at any of the few health talks, and either they could know or they do and don't want to hear. The question becomes, do they believe?

I know people who have stated they would rather die than give up their favorite injurious food, knowing full well it is not right to eat.
And die they do.
A painful death.

kland, what do you mean when you say "it is not right to eat"? Do you mean not right as in unhealthy or not right as in sinfull?

Weapons of Mass Destruction

Many North Americans are succumbing daily to our own brand of weapons of mass destruction: junk food, fatburgers, mountains of sugar-laden sweets and goodies, as well as innumerable servings of fatty chips, dips, donuts and French-fries. Let's not forget the terrible "Cs": cookies, cakes, candy, Coke's, cream, etc.

Yes folks, we are literally eating ourselves to death as we gorge on these dainties. Heart disease, the number 1 cause of death for both men and women is largely caused when fat and cholesterol from our fatty diet blocks crucial heart arteries. When a brain artery is blocked by this same process, a stroke occurs. Indeed strokes and coronary heart disease will take the lives of millions of North Americans each year.

Cancers of the breast, prostate, lungs, colon, brain, or some other organ are practically out of control and are wrecking havoc among all age groups. Even children ae affected. North Americans are on a death march, as it were as we frequent the fast-food joints and ice cream parlors.

Obesity now competes with smoking as a means of death. Indeed, obese persons increase their risk of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and certain types of cancer, high blood cholesterol levels, varicose veins, some cases of infertility, gout, depression, a poor quality of life and a shortened life span. And the emotional impact of this condition cannot be overlooked.

This is serious, brothers and sisters....Medical scientists and researchers are warning that the way we eat is implicated in a host of familiar maladies that have many doctors scratching their heads in wonder, or dispensing insanely expensive drugs that mask symptoms but do not address the true cause of the problem.

It has come home forcefully to countless health authorities that many of our health problems are associated with the unprecedented consumptioh of fast-junk-foods, fatburgers with all the trimmings, artificial food and other calorie-laden, tasty, nutrient-deficient foods that nudge out the protective foods. Indeed, fruits, veggies, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds have taken a back seat in the North American diet, losing ground to sugar-and-fat-laden fast food.

Our diets should be composed of approximately 80% fruits and vegetables-seven to 10 servings daily. Whole grain products, nuts and seeds should round out our dietary regimen. This is crucial to good health and happiness. Try this and see your gout, arthritis, high blood pressure, constipation and other ailments practially disappear. Give it time to work.

Inactivity is another weapon of mass distruction that should be addressed. Yes, we all know that we should be getting more exercise--let's just do it. Ask the Lord for His help as we dust off our Spirit of Prophecy books and put His counsel into practice rather than become another casualty of war.

Suzanne

I hear you asking if it is sinful to eat the wrong foods. If you know what you should and should not eat to keep your body's temple in the best condition and you have a spirit of rebellion and let taste rule your choices, is that rebellion sin?

If you read Suzanne's above comment about destroying our bodies, is killing ones' self sin?

I asked only for clarification. No need to build a straw-man and then destroy it.

But perhaps we should examine the question that you propose, "Is it sinful to eat the wrong foods?"

I'm sorry, I don't follow the straw-man bit.

A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position.[1] To "attack a straw man" is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by substituting it with a superficially similar yet unequivalent proposition (the "straw man"), and refuting it, without ever having actually refuted the original position.[1][2]

(From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man)

We've suddenly jumped from "what do you mean by 'wrong foods' to "you have a spirit of rebellion" and "you let appetite control you."

Yoy have not shown a legitimate progression from the one to the other, nor do I think that to do so is the intent of this thread.

Is eating the "wrong foods" sinful? Jesus said that it was what came out of the mouth that caused people to sin, not what went into the mouth. (Matthew 15:10, 11)

JAK, I was making a legitimate "progression" to, what is sin. I thought the progression was clearly explained. If sin is a spirit of rebellion, and you rebel and eat wrong foods anyway, that is sin. Can eating foods you know to be wrong be anything but rebellion and therefore sin?

I say yes. Do you say the only sin is which comes out of the mouth? Do you say Jesus meant anything that goes into the mouth or is it only only what He might be referring to in context?

20Don't let your appetite destroy what God has done. All foods are fit to eat, but it is wrong to cause problems for others by what you eat. 21It is best not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else that causes problems for other followers of the Lord. 22What you believe about these things should be kept between you and God. You are fortunate, if your actions don't make you have doubts. 23But if you do have doubts about what you eat, you are going against your beliefs. And you know that is wrong, because anything you do against your beliefs is sin.

Eating what he considers to be "wrong foods" would be sin for kland, because he believes it is so. Would eating the same foods be sin for someone else who do not share klands convictions? In light of verse 20, it would not.

I should stress the fact that it is the believing, not the particular food, that makes the sin in this case. If kland believes it to be sinful to eat grated carrots, it would be so.

Junk food can lead to lower IQ in children

by Shona Botes

(NaturalNews) Researchers in Britain have discovered that feeding your children junk or processed foods can actually lower their IQ. The diets and general health and well-being of 14000 children born from 1991 to 1992 in western England were monitored at ages three, four and a half, seven and again at age 8. It was found that a poor diet during the early developmental years could in fact lead to a lower IQ by the age of 8.

Parents had been asked to complete questionnaires detailing the foods and drink that their children consumed, among other things. From this, it was evident that three dietary patterns had emerged. One was very health conscious and included salads, fruit, vegetables, pasta and rice. The second included a traditional meat and vegetable diet, and the final dietary pattern was high in fats, processed foods and sugars.

The children`s IQ was again measured at age eight, and it was discovered that there was a significant difference between those who consumed the diet of processed and junk foods to those who consumed the salads, fruit and vegetables. Those consuming the diet of processed foods scored an average of 101 IQ points; whereas, those consuming the healthier diet scored an average of 106 IQ points. IQ point scoring fell by 1.67 for each increase on the chart that reflected the amount of processed fat they consumed.

A healthy and balanced diet seems to be just as important to raising your child`s IQ levels as it is to keeping them healthy in other areas as well. It`s therefore important to ensure that your child eats a wide variety of fresh, whole foods and avoids the junk food, especially during the developmental years, as it does affect them later in life. Damage is done by the consumption of these junk and processed foods during the early years. A lower IQ makes them less able to cope with school, peer pressure and many other areas in life.

From a young age, children should be encouraged to consume raw, whole foods and avoid junk foods completely.

Sources:

http://www.france24.com/en/20110208...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...
http://ozarksfirst.com/fulltext?nxd...
http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/...

Suzanne

Studies Show Junk Foods Change Brain Chemistry and Are Addictive Like Cocaine

by Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

(NaturalNews) Is gorging on a bag of nacho cheese-flavored corn chips, for instance, the same as snorting a line of cocaine? A number of scientific studies, many of which were conducted within the past year, have found that junk food addiction is essentially the same as cocaine addiction, at least as far as the brain is concerned.

Bloomberg Businessweek reports on a plethora of recent data that identifies junk food addiction as being just as serious as drug addiction. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), monosodium glutamate (MSG), hydrogenated oils, refined salt, and various other chemical preservatives found in processed junk food does the same thing to a person's brain as cocaine does.

A 2010 study conducted by scientists at Scripps Research Institute (SRI) in Florida found that rats given free access to Hormel Foods Corp. bacon, Sara Lee Corp. pound cake, The Cheesecake Factory Inc. cheesecake, and Pillsbury Co. Creamy Supreme cake frosting, experienced significant changes in brain activity and function -- and these changes mirrored those that occur in the brains of drug addicts.

Another study conducted by researchers at both the University of Texas in Austin (UT) and the Oregon Research Institute found that prolonged consumption of junk foods results in reduced activity in the striatum, a section of the forebrain that registers reward. In other words, just like with illicit drugs, those addicted to junk food require ever-increasing amounts of it to get the same "high."

"The data is so overwhelming the field has to accept it," said Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) concerning the findings. "We are finding tremendous overlap between drugs in the brain and food in the brain."

In a correlative study, researchers identified a similarity in dopamine production levels between drug addicts and junk food addicts. Addiction to either one essentially causes the brain receptors that receive dopamine signals to lose their responsiveness. As a result, addicts require increasing amounts of the addictive substance to receive the same level of satisfaction.

Since processed foods are loaded with synthetic chemical additives, they are technically drugs themselves. So it is no wonder that millions of people around the world are addicted to them.

Editor's Note: NaturalNews is strongly against the use of all forms of animal testing. We fully support the implementation of humane medical experimentation that promotes the health and well-being of all living creatures.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...

Suzanne

Food for thought.