Mental Health

Science Tells You Which Of The Top 35 Foods Are Most Addictive

By R. Siva Kumar | Update Date: Nov 06, 2015 10:46 AM EST

Did you know that the pizza you love is the food that is created and designed to hook some of your brain centers?

Well, it is, according to a study published in the journal Plos One.

It said that pizza, along with 34 other types of food, is designed to make it addictive to you!

Studying 120 undergraduate college students and 400 participants, the survey showed the students the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) in the first part to identify which foods they craved or resisted.

The study concluded that the students were "either unable to quit a food, developed a strong tolerance for a food, or ate more food than they wanted to". In the list of foods, they linked "processed, high glycemic and fatty food" to "addictive-like eating behaviors," according to Mental Floss.

"In a similar manner that drugs are processed to increase their addictive potential, this study provides insight that highly processed foods may be intentionally manufactured to be particularly rewarding through the addition of fat and refined carbohydrates, like white flour and sugar," said lead study author Erica Shulte.

The 400 participants were asked to rate the foods, which helped the researchers to put up a list. This is it, then:

1. Pizza

2. Chocolate

3. Chips

4. Cookies

5. Ice Cream

6. French Fries

7. Cheeseburgers

8. Non-diet soda

9. Cake

10. Cheese

11. Bacon

12. Fried chicken

13. Rolls

14. Buttered popcorn

15. Cereal

16. Gummies

17. Steak

18. Muffins

19. Nuts

20. Eggs

21. Chicken Breast

22. Pretzels

23. Plain crackers

24. Water

25. Granola Bars

26. Strawberries

27. Corn (without butter or salt)

28. Salmon

29. Bananas

30. Broccoli

31. Plain brown rice

32. Apples

33. Beans

34. Carrots

35. Cucumbers

"I think in the majority of cases when we have a problem with a substance, whether it's a food or drug...we will ignore it," said Wesleyan University psychology assistant professor Mike Robinson, according to HNGN.

Robinson advised that we should avoid foods that we can't control eating. "We are not in a situation where we will have dietary deficiencies (and) whenever possible we should be aiming to cook foods for ourselves."

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