Why is it so hard to put down that bag of chips or eat one less cookie? According to new research in rats, weight loss is potentially as tough as kicking drug addiction.

In the study released online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Nov 12, rats weaned off of high-calorie food showed the same effects on the brain as withdrawing from drugs and alcohol.

Although rats’ brains are different from human brains, the study author Pietro Cottone said that the research indicates that there is a link between yo-yo dieting and addiction withdrawal.

Yo-yo dieting, "a common habit of many chronic dieters, generates dependence," explained Cottone, an assistant professor Boston University School of Medicine. When people who normally overeat stop overeating, hormones are released into the brain which can lead to increased stress and decreased motivation.

For many, this is the reason why diets fail. They just can’t put down that bag of chips.

Previous research has found that food activates pleasure centers of the brain; just like sex and drug use do.

Cottone’s study aimed to explore whether or not withdrawal could be caused by food in the same way that it is caused by drug use, or even sex.

The rats in the study were given normal food for five days, and then switched to a high-fat chocolate diet.

It was not surprising when the rats resisted switching back to their normal food after having eaten the chocolate.

When the rats were deprived of the sugary food they showed signs of anxiety, and their brains acted similar to a brain withdrawing from alcohol or drugs.

"A history of dieting and relapse generates anxiety. The next attempt to avoid junk foods is going to be more painful and stressful than the previous one, and therefore the likelihood of relapse is going to be progressively higher and higher," Cottone said.

Web Design by Jeff Nash