It’s sold at supermarkets, convenience stores, workplaces, schools, and in vending machines.
The availability and convenience of junk food make it difficult to limit or avoid.
While everyone’s definition of junk food may vary, most people agree it’s not the healthiest thing for you.
These highly processed snacks contain an abundance of calories — especially in the form of fat and sugar — and little to no vitamins, minerals, or fiber.
Examples include:
-soda
-chips
-candy
-cookies
-doughnuts
-cake
-pastries
While these items typically come to mind when you think of junk food, others are not so easily identifiable.
-Addictive Qualities
Junk food is thought to be addictive. These addictive qualities are centered around sugar and fat. Sugar may stimulate the same brain reward pathways as drugs like cocaine
.Independently, sugar hasn’t been consistently shown to be addictive in humans, but when combined with fat, the combination can be hard to resist.
Studies observe that the combination of sugar and fat is more commonly associated with addictive symptoms — such as withdrawal or loss of control over consumption — than sugar alone.
A review of 52 studies found that the foods most associated with addictive symptoms were highly processed and contained high amounts of fat and refined carbs, such as sugar.
That said, regular or even intermittent consumption of highly-processed food has the potential to stimulate the reward and habit formation center in your brain that increases cravings.
This can lead to overconsumption of junk food and with time, weight gain. There is still much to learn about food addiction, which tends to be more prevalent among people who are overweight or obese.
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