If you are a hard-core junk food lover then you need to know about this recently released study which says that people who have been eating high amounts of junk food every day and then trying to withdraw it can experience both physical and psychological symptoms. These symptoms, as stated in the journal Appetite, such as mood swings, cravings, anxiety, headaches, and poor sleep are just the same as that of a drug or cigarette withdrawer.
The Lead Author of this study, Erica Schulte, said, “The new study offers the first evidence that these withdrawal-like symptoms can occur when people cut down on highly processed foods.”
The people who participated in this study sensed withdrawal symptoms in the second and fifth day after leaving junk food eating. Researchers decoded this as the “heavy” intake of food and beverages suddenly can give birth to substance-use disorders and addictive-like consumption of highly processed foods.
Nicole Avena, an assistant professor at a University in New York, stated, “This new study fills an important missing piece in the research on food addiction.” Being well-versed in the study of foods, she elaborated, “Up till now, there hasn’t been a reliable way to measure withdrawal symptoms tied to food in humans, and the new tool used in the study provides a valid measure that can be useful in understanding more about the addictive nature of highly processed foods.”
