Junk diet is `like a narcotic'

All that was apparently shown here is that rats got to like human foods and acted disturbed when given only rat pellets again. If someone fed me rat pellets instead of my normal diet, I would get pretty disturbed too. It undoubtedly shows that rat pellets are unappetizing but what else it proves I fail to see

PEOPLE who eat too much junk food can become addicted to it in the same way a drug-user becomes dependent on narcotics, ne research shows. Researchers at the Sansom Institute in South Australia have found that excessive consumption of foods high in fat and sugar triggers the release of dopamine in the central reward pathwav in the brain.

"This creates a feeling of pleasure not dissimilar to that caused by drugs of abuse," lead researcher Zhi Yi Ong said. "Repeated activation of the dopaminergic reward pathway is associated with the development of addiction."

Ms Ong and her team used rodents to explore junk food dependence feeding them biscuits, Nutella, peanut butter, Froot Loops and Cheetos for two months.

"Their desire for junk food ended up over-riding their physiological hunger signals," she said. The rodents also displayed anxiety when the researchers replaced their junk food with standard food. "The ability of chronic junk food intake to produce junk food dependence may explain why many individuals struggle to control their desire for these foods," she said.

The above story by Suellen Hinde appeared in the Brisbane "Sunday Mail" on June 7, 2009





Bubs'IQ plummet from lack of iodine

IODINE deficiency among pregnant women has reached such alarming levels. they will produce a generation of dumber children. a leading expert warns. Endocrinologist Professor Creswell Eastman has just completed a study of 400 pregnant women at Sydney's Westmead Hospital and found 60-70 per cent of them were iodine-deficient - up from 50 per cent a few years ago.

Iodine is a trace element essential for brain growth in a developing foetus and to maintain normal thyroid function, growth and metabolism.

Professor Creswell, vice-chair of the International Council for Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders, said women involved in the study were only getting half the iodine they required. "Children born to mothers who are moderately iodine-deficient have lower IQs ... It is dumbing down our population," Prof Eastman said. "We could solve the whole problem if we could convince the Government that all salt for human consumption should be iodised," Prof Eastman said.

The above story by Sharon Labi appeared in the Brisbane "Sunday Mail" on June 7, 2009

Table salt IS already all iodized as far as I know. Salt used in food manufacture probably is not however. So it is the health nuts warning people off adding salt to their food who are causing this problem