Why you can get addicted to food in the same way as you can to cigarettes or drugs
It's a dividing question, with some scientists arguing there is nothing in our diet with the same physiologically addictive properties as those found in, for example, drugs or alcohol.
But others say the rise in consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is making more of us dependent on the 'high' we get from eating the combination of sugar, fat and additives in them.
UPFs encompass everything from mass-produced chips and breakfast cereals to sliced bread and ready meals, and are broadly defined as foods made with multiple ingredients including additives to enhance flavour, colour and shelf-life. UPFs are increasingly linked with health problems.
Now there is worrying new evidence that food addiction may be fuelling an epidemic of type 2 diabetes in the UK.
More than four million people in the UK have type 2 diabetes – up from less than three million in 2018. It's a condition where the body cannot produce enough insulin or stops responding to it properly. Insulin is a hormone that helps cells process sugar from the blood for energy.
When someone has diabetes, sugar builds up in the blood, gradually affecting circulation and increasing the risk of heart disease, stroke, blindness and even limb amputation because of a lack of oxygen-rich blood reaching vital parts of the body. But while it's well-established that over-eating (and the obesity it can cause) is the main culprit, a new study identified the proportion of people with type 2 diabetes who meet the criteria for being food 'addicts' – with little or no self-control over their eating habits.
Researchers at the Federal University of Sao Paulo in Brazil analysed previous studies on type 2 diabetes – involving almost 16,000 people – to see what proportion ticked all of the boxes for food addiction.
To do this, they used the Yale Food Addiction Scale, a scoring system compiled in 2009 by scientists at Yale University in the US. It records, for instance, whether people are unable to control how much they eat, suffer withdrawal symptoms when favourite treats are not available or have repeatedly tried – and failed – to stop gorging on them.
The results, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, suggested that almost a third of those with type 2 diabetes have a food addiction – and they were two-and-a-half times more likely to have it than healthy people. But what happens in the brain that leads to a food addiction?
Studies show that foods, such as UPFs high in fat and sugar, act on the brain's reward mechanism, triggering the release of dopamine – a 'feelgood' chemical produced when we do something we enjoy.
The theory is that it's this neurological response – the same seen from drinking alcohol or placing a bet – that drives food addiction. And over-eating these foods then causes diabetes.
Warning signs of a food addiction include going to 'extreme lengths' to obtain junk food when it's not easily available, eating so excessively that you neglect work, friends and family, and being dishonest with others about your eating patterns, according to the Priory Group of private clinics, which offers food addiction treatment.
However, a major 2024 study by the National Institutes of Health in Maryland, US, cast doubt on the impact of the dopamine response in food addiction. Researchers gave 50 young, healthy volunteers an ultra-processed milkshake that was high in fat and sugar and then performed brain scans to measure dopamine levels 30 minutes later.
To their surprise, the results – published in the online journal medRxiv – revealed little or no change in dopamine levels, undermining the idea that people can easily get hooked on UPFs as with narcotics, nicotine or alcohol.
Dr Eleanor Bryant, an associate professor of health and eating behaviour at Bradford University, told Good Health that although certain foods may act on the dopamine system in the brain, the effect is likely to be too small to lead to any genuine form of dependence – or indeed addiction.
Instead, she says, if food addiction is real, it's more likely a behavioural response to stress, anxiety and poor self-esteem – rather than a neurological response to the ingredients within food.
'You can get addicted to eating but I don't think you can get addicted to food,' she says.
'It's a coping mechanism because, for many people, eating any food brings comfort and familiarity. And it's not as if you can give it up, like drugs or alcohol, so it makes it difficult to deal with.'
Wasim Hanif, a professor of diabetes and endocrinology at University Hospital Birmingham, said it's well known that some people with type 2 diabetes have problems regulating their appetite.
But he says it is 'inappropriate to label this as food addiction as it puts the blame on the patient'.
He adds: 'Not everyone who becomes obese from over-eating develops diabetes – there's a strong genetic element as well.'
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Times
18-07-2025
- Times
11 things that improve with age (including sex)
Ageing is often associated with deterioration — of health, fitness, even mental outlook. But not everything is doomed to get worse as the years go by. Here are some aspects of our health and fitness that get better from midlife onwards: Older people tend to have lower levels of anxiety and the Mental Health Foundation says that, from a peak of 28 per cent of 16 to 29-year-olds, incidence of anxiety decreases steadily, with those aged 70 and over 'the least likely group' to suffer. In 2023 a brain imaging study of healthy adults aged 21-85 in NeuroImage journal showed that two interconnected regions of the brain called the dorsal and rostral anterior cingulate cortex, which is involved in processing emotions, was less activated in older adults when they were shown images of faces with negative emotions. According to the Yale University team that led the trial, it suggests that older adults develop ways of quickly processing negative emotions, which reduces anxiety levels. We all know by now that muscle mass declines with age on a trajectory that, unless addressed, leads to frailty. But however old you are, it is possible to become stronger than ever. For studies in Frontiers in Physiology, a group of researchers at the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland asked a group of 65 to 75-year-olds to embark on twice-weekly full-body resistance training designed to boost their muscular strength. After three months of supervised weights sessions, they were assigned to continue with the workouts once, twice or three times a week while a control group did nothing. • I'm healthier in my sixties than I was 30 years ago: here's how Six months later even the once-a-week weightlifters had better strength as well as significant improvements in body composition (a higher muscle-to-fat ratio), cholesterol and blood sugar control. 'It is never too late to weight train,' says Dalton Wong, the personal trainer. 'If you have never done it before, it is possible to become stronger than you have been previously.' Migraines are two to three times more prevalent in women than men according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, with incidence often peaking in midlife but dropping from 60 onwards. 'Migraines can be related to certain triggers and may be exacerbated by hormone levels, the menstrual cycle and the menopause,' says Dr Dan Baumgardt, a GP and senior lecturer in the school of physiology, pharmacology and neuroscience at the University of Bristol. 'Often after the menopause, when oestrogen and progesterone levels have fallen and stabilised, sufferers see a positive change in the intensity and frequency of migraines. The same can also apply to cluster headaches [debilitating headaches that occur in cycles].' Juggling jobs, families and financial pressures creates a high daily stress load in our twenties, thirties and forties, which decreases dramatically when these stressors reduce as we age. At the same time emotional resilience improves the older we get. According to the Centre for Policy on Ageing, resilience in old age is defined as the ability to 'bounce back' to a state of equilibrium that comes from learning how to cope with and overcome adversity long term. Several studies, including one from the University of Manchester, have shown that over-64s are at least as resilient, if not more so, than people under the age of 26. Physically our body's ability to deal with stress might improve too. Psychologists at Ghent University and the University of Geneva found that during lab-based stress tests, a group of 65 to 84-year-olds not only reported feeling less stressed, but had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and a lower heart rate reaction than 18 to 30-year-olds. The actress Emma Thompson, 66, recently said: 'You need sex because it's part of your health plan, if you like. It should really be on the NHS. It should. It's so good for you.' She should have added that sex is also more satisfying from our mid-fifties onwards. Fifty-four per cent of men and 31 per cent of women over 70 in England are sexually active, with a third of these having frequent sex — at least twice a month — according to data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behaviour. • Yes, you can have great sex after 60 — I should know It is also likely to be the best sex of their lives for many, with a study in Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics finding that both men and women reported higher satisfaction with sex as they aged. Elsewhere, psychologists at the University of California discovered that women aged 55 to 80-plus reported higher orgasm satisfaction, even if levels of physical arousal had declined. 'Sex and masturbation are good for us and can indeed become more satisfying as we age,' says Joyce Harper, professor of reproductive science at University College London. 'We should make it a priority in our lives.' From our mid-thirties onwards we wage a battle against gradual age-related muscle loss, or sarcopenia, that only accelerates as we progress through the decades. But a team of British exercise scientists has overturned the widespread belief that older muscles are less resilient and slower to recuperate after a hard workout. Reporting recently in the Journal of Aging and Physical Activity , they showed how older muscles experience significantly less soreness and fewer biochemical signs of damage than more youthful counterparts. Contrary to expectation, results showed that post-workout soreness was consistently lower in the over-35s, with reductions of about 34 per cent after 48 hours and 62 per cent at 72 hours compared with those in the 18-25 age bracket. • Is creatine the secret weapon for midlife women? Dr Lawrence Hayes, a lecturer in physiology at Lancaster University, measured creatine kinase (CK) levels, a marker of damage to muscle cells, in the blood of participants. Typically these can take one to three days to return to normal, and until now it was believed that the process took longer past middle age. Yet in this study CK levels taken approximately 24 hours after exercise were shown to be 28 per cent lower in older adults than in the under-25s. 'We can now dispel some myths — so they won't take longer to recover, won't feel sorer and won't lose function for longer than they did at a younger age,' Hayes says. A decline in brain function is not necessarily our destiny as we age, as neuroscientists reported in a study of 702 participants aged 58 to 98 published in Nature Human Behaviour. They found that two key brain functions involved in decision-making, navigation and memory (orienting and executive inhibition) can improve as people get older. When driving a car, for example, orienting comes into play when attention shifts to any unexpected movement, such as a pedestrian or bike. Executive inhibition helps to block out distractions to stay focused on the road. Joao Verissimo, an assistant professor at the University of Lisbon and lead author of the study, says that both brain functions are skills developed with lifelong practice and can become strong enough to outweigh any underlying cognitive decline. Our brains reach peak capacity in our twenties and from then on slowly get smaller, but that doesn't necessarily mean that all aspects of memory will deteriorate. Researchers, including those reporting in Psychology of Ageing journal, have shown that while our episodic memory (recollection of past experiences) tends to decline with age, our semantic memory (the ability to recall facts and general knowledge) remains relatively stable — and can even get stronger. Examples of semantic memory include language, vocabulary and numbers. Your procedural memory, such as the ability to ride a bike or use a keyboard, also remains stable, according to research at the University of Illinois. Older people tend to be happier with their lot in life, according to a study of 1,000 people led by Susan Charles, a professor of psychological science at the University of California, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Life in old age is often more stable, enabling us to focus more on the present and less on planning for the future, and people tend to feel more satisfied with their close friends and family members, Charles found in her research lasting over two decades. 'This mindset is one possible explanation for high levels of wellbeing later in life,' she says. Another study of 1,546 adults aged 21-100 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry showed that feelings of life satisfaction, wellbeing and happiness improved from 21 through to the nineties. According to the most recent Sport England Active Lives Survey, activity levels for those aged 55-plus are the highest since records began a decade ago — and, what is more, it is those aged over 75 who are driving the upward trend. About 43 per cent of people aged over 75 are physically active, meaning they average 150 minutes of physical activity per week, compared to just 33.4 per cent during the year to November 2016. At the other end of the age spectrum, the proportion of 16 to 35-year olds who are active is 2.3 per cent down on 2015-16. 'There has been a huge growth in activity levels for older adults,' says Nick Pontefract, chief strategy officer at Sport England. 'This is helping to support people to live healthier and happier lives.' The adage that with age comes wisdom is true according to a growing body of researchers who suggest that older people who are not diminished by dementia and cognitive decline are more astute and well-balanced than younger counterparts., for instance. One landmark paper from the University of Michigan, published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggested that over 60s were more better able resolve social conflicts largely because of their ability to emphasise different perspectives on issues, to compromise, and to recognise the limits of their knowledge. And last year the psychologist Laura Carstensen, founding director of the Stanford Centre on Longevity, told Scientific American that 'the belief about old people is that they're all kind of the same, they're doddering, and that ageing is this steady downward slope' is a gross misunderstanding. Octogenarians 'include the wisest people on the planet', Carstensen said.
NBC News
17-07-2025
- NBC News
The best plastic-free food storage containers for meal prep and more
I used plastic food containers for most of my life — they're affordable and accessible at most of the grocery stores I frequent. But, in recent years I've learned more about the potential dangers plastic food containers and microplastics pose to my health and the environment. Leaching, which is the process of microplastic getting into food, is one of many reasons I recently turned to non-plastic food containers and cooking utensils. Harmful chemicals from some plastic food storage containers, like bisphenol A (BPA), per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and phthalates, can get into our food, especially when heated, according to Tracey Woodruff, an associate professor of reproductive sciences at the University of California San Francisco. 'There are a lot of different chemicals that are used in the making of plastic or that are in plastic-related materials and these chemicals can leach from the plastic into people's food,' says Woodruff. These chemicals can lead to an increased risk of infertility, reproductive health, cardiovascular disease and more, according to Woodruff. Additionally, researchers have found microplastics in several parts of the human body, including blood and the brain, according to Woodruff. With this in mind, I spoke with experts about how to find a good plastic alternative and what you should look for. How I picked the best plastic-free food container The main factor in deciding the best alternatives to plastic food containers is finding a material that doesn't leach and is safe to put in the microwave and dishwasher. Here's everything our experts recommend I keep in mind when making this list: Alternative materials: The best and most common non-toxic alternative to traditional plastic is glass, according to Woodruff. Unlike plastic, glass food containers aren't susceptible to leaching microplastics, making them safer to heat up, eat out of and prepare food in. Most of the food containers on this list are made of borosilicate glass, which is highly resistant to heat, thermal shock and cracking (though not shatterproof). Additionally, I also curated options that have ceramic coatings, which makes them stain resistant and nonstick, as well as containers made from stainless steel. While every container on this list is made from either glass or stainless steel, some of the included lids are made of BPA-free plastic and/or come with a silicone lining to prevent leaking, so some of the sets aren't entirely plastic free. BPA and PFAS free: BPA and PFAS (sometimes called 'forever chemicals') are molecular chemical additives found in microplastics that some manufacturers use to give plastic durability, heat, oil and stain resistance, according to Paul Anastas, a professor of chemistry and director of the Center for Green Chemistry at Yale University's School of the Environment. As I mentioned above, chemicals found in microplastics are linked to an increased risk of adverse reproductive health issues in both men and women, lung and colon cancer, metabolic abnormalities, birth defects and more, according to Woodruff. With this in mind, I only included plastic food container alternatives that explicitly mention being BPA and PFAS free and/or 100% plastic free. Use case: In making this list, I tried to find non-plastic food container options that you can use for a variety of purposes, including microwaving, baking, freezing and putting in the dishwasher. While not every option on this list is compatible for all four methods, most of them are dishwasher safe and microwave safe. I noted which purposes each one is best suited for. Want more from NBC Select? Sign up for our newsletter, The Selection, and shop smarter. The best alternatives to plastic food containers All of the products below are either direct recommendations from NBC Select editors and/or have at least a 4-star average rating from 500 reviews or more on Amazon. 100% plastic-free food containers All of the food containers below are entirely plastic free, including the lids. I tested and reviewed Anyday's microwavable cookware bowls, which are available in multiple sizes and are similar to this set of frosted borosilicate glass containers designed specifically for food storage, instead of cooking (though they're also oven- and microwave-safe, too.) You'll get two 2-cup rounded dishes and two 2.5-cup square dishes. The dishes, including the lids, are entirely plastic free, according to the brand, and you can also microwave and bake with the lids, which have vents on top that act as a handle. This set from Urban Green has a 4.1-star average rating from 2,031 reviews on Amazon and comes with five containers: a 0.5-cup, 1.5-cup, 2.6-cup, 3.8-cup and 6.25-cup. They're entirely plastic free, according to the brand — the containers are made of heat-safe borosilicate glass and the lids are bamboo. They're safe to use in the microwave and oven (without the lids) and they're dishwasher and freezer safe, too, according to the brand. These wraps are made of beeswax, organic cotton, plant oil and tree resin, according to the brand, making them entirely plastic and silicone free. These wraps have a 4.5-star average rating from 10,862 reviews on Amazon and they work in the same way you'd use plastic wrap or aluminum foil, except they're reusable. The set includes a small, medium and large wrap, which are best for using with solid foods, like sandwiches, loaves of bread and produce. You can also use the wrap as a lid for a bowl with salad. That said, the wraps aren't suitable for heating and you can only wash them with cold water, according to the brand. Mostly plastic-free food containers All of the food containers below are plastic free, however some of the lids or accessories have BPA-free plastic. This popular set from Caraway comes recommended by NBC Select reporter Zoe Malin, who loves how well they seal. 'I've used these containers for over a year almost every day,' she says. 'They're super sturdy and don't stain, even when I use them to store pasta with red sauce or curry made with turmeric.' It's made of glass and coated in ceramic, similar to the brand's cookware. The 9-piece set, includes one large 10-cup square container, ideal for prepping multiple servings of food, two medium, rectangle 6.6-cup containers for individual meals, two small 4.4-cup containers for salads or sides, two small rectangular inserts with a 9-ounce capacity for snacks and two small square inserts with a 4-ounce capacity, compatible for dips and dressings. The set also comes with storage racks you attach to the inside of your cabinet and straps that hold the lid and container together. NBC Select editor Mili Godio got this set of glass food containers as a wedding gift and says she can't 'ever go back' to her usual plastic Tupperware. 'They're super durable and stack really nicely on top of each other,' she says. The set comes with 10 containers of different sizes, so there's one to fit practically anything you need. The lids seal well and protect from spills, too, according to Godio. This set of glass food containers comes recommended by NBC Select reporter Harry Rabinwotiz, who likes the many shapes and sizes included in the set and that the lids seal securely. Plus, the containers themselves are durable and can handle high heat and travel without cracking. 'I don't worry about throwing them in my backpack, in the sink with other pots and dishes, or in the oven and microwave,' says Rabinowitz. The set includes one large 6.3-cup container, two 3.5-cup containers and one 1.6-cup container in both round and square shapes. I've had this glass set for about two months and I love everything about them. While the lids have plastic on them that isn't oven safe, the containers themselves are extremely durable — I've baked multiple foods in them (rice, poultry and pasta) all at once in the oven around 400 degrees and they don't have a single crack. Plus, I baked them with the silicone cover on the bottom (to protect them from damage) and it didn't melt at all. The lids snap closed and don't spill, especially when I've used them for foods with sauce. I've also put both the container and lid in the dishwasher and they've fared well and don't have any damage, even when I use hot water. Since the lids have plastic, I make sure not to microwave or bake with them on. These food containers are made of stainless steel and have food-grade silicone lids. The set has a 4.7-star average rating from 39 reviews at Klean Kanteen and includes a 1.25-cup, 2.8-cup and 6.8-cup container. The smaller containers fit on the inside of the largest container, so you can keep food separated, similar to a bento box, or simply use the largest one as is. Unlike many stainless steel food containers, this set is microwave- and oven-safe since its texture prevents sparking or arcing, according to Klean Kanteen. Aside from the removable divider, the containers are entirely plastic free, according to the brand. This small insulated container is ideal for warm foods since its stainless steel body helps maintain heat. With that said, it isn't microwave safe. It has a 4.2-star average rating from 2,334 reviews on Amazon and its lid has a top handle, which twists to lock and prevent spills. While it's best for warm food, you can still use it to store things like salad and vegetables. How to shop for plastic food container alternatives Many plastic food container sets have chemical additives (many of which companies aren't required to disclose) with adverse health effects. This includes BPA, phthalates and PFAS — and those are only the handful of ones researchers know about, according to Woodruff. The easiest way to avoid leaching consequences is to simply avoid plastic food containers altogether. Here's how to find the best plastic-free container: Choose a material Glass is arguably the best material to look for as an eco-friendly alternative to plastic food containers, according to experts. To a lesser extent, stainless steel containers can also be a reliable option. Glass allows for versatility since it's usually oven-, microwave- and dishwasher-safe, and isn't susceptible to leaching like plastic. Stainless steel doesn't always have these features, though it isn't susceptible to breaking or cracking and it often allows food to stay warm for longer. Also, many glass food storage containers have plastic lids, even if they're free of BPA, PFAS and other chemicals. Use case If you plan on only using storage containers to prepare food — whether it be on the stove or in the oven — and then transfer food to them, then they don't need to be oven- or microwave-safe. If you don't want to have to dirty more dishes or transfer the food to a plate for reheating, then you should make sure that whatever you buy is microwave or oven safe. If you're someone who likes to meal prep and then freeze food, be sure to purchase something that's freezer compatible. Recycle In addition to buying new containers, Woodruff also recommends reusing store-bought glass containers, like those for condiments or sauces, to store food (not necessarily heat it), similar to how you would a mason jar. Doing this can help you save money and it reduces your single-use plastic consumption. Meet our experts At NBC Select, we work with experts who have specialized knowledge and authority based on relevant training and/or experience. We also take steps to ensure all expert advice and recommendations are made independently and without undisclosed financial conflicts of interest. Why trust NBC Select? I'm a commerce editor at NBC Select, where I frequently write about home and kitchen topics. I also have a decade of experience writing about food. I spoke with two experts in chemistry and reproductive sciences for this story and included NBC Select-staff favorites for plastic-free food storage options.
The Independent
10-07-2025
- The Independent
Scientists discover the ‘missing link' that causes giant volcanic eruptions
Volcanic eruptions at Earth's surface have significant consequences. Smaller ones can scare tourists on Mount Etna or disrupt air traffic. Giant, large-scale eruptions can have more serious impacts. One such event contributed to the demise of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Giant volcanoes also triggered events that led to the largest mass dying on Earth, the Permian–Triassic extinction 252 million years ago But what fuels a giant eruption, and how does it make its way to the surface from deep within the planet? In a new study published in Communications Earth and Environment, we show that columns of hot rock, which rise some 3,000 kilometres through Earth's mantle and cause giant eruptions, are connected to continent-sized source regions we call BLOBS. Hidden blobs within Earth BLOBS are hot regions at the bottom of Earth's mantle (between about 2,000km and 3,000km in depth) which might be composed of different material compared with the surrounding mantle rocks. Scientists have long known about these two hot regions under the Pacific Ocean and Africa. Geologist David Evans from Yale University suggested the acronym BLOBS, which stands for Big LOwer-mantle Basal Structures. These BLOBS have possibly existed for hundreds of millions of years. It is unclear whether they're stationary or if they move around as part of mantle motion (called convection). Mantle plumes were the implicit link in previous studies relating BLOBS to giant volcanic eruptions. Their shape is a bit like a lollipop: the 'stick' is the plume tail and the 'candy' is the plume head. Mantle plumes rise very slowly through the mantle because they transport hot solid rock, not melt or lava. At lower pressures in the uppermost 200km of Earth's mantle, the solid rock melts, leading to eruptions. A long-sought relationship In our new study, we simulated mantle convection from one billion years ago and found that mantle plumes rise from moving BLOBS and can sometimes be gently tilted. Giant volcanic eruptions can be identified by the volume of volcanic rocks preserved at Earth's surface. The ocean floor preserves detailed fingerprints of mantle plumes for the past 120 million years or so (there is not much seafloor older than that). Oceanic plateaus, such as the Ontong Java-Manihiki-Hikurangi plateau currently in the southwest Pacific Ocean, are linked to plume heads. In contrast, a series of volcanoes such as the Hawaii -Emperor seamount chain and the Lord Howe seamount chain are linked to plume tails. We used statistics to show that the locations of past giant volcanic eruptions are significantly related to the mantle plumes predicted by our models. This is encouraging, as it suggests that the simulations predict mantle plumes in places and at times generally consistent with the geologic record. Are BLOBS fixed or mobile? We showed that the considered eruption locations fall either onto or close to the moving BLOBS predicted by our models. Eruption locations slightly outside moving BLOBS could be explained by plume tilting. We represented fixed BLOBS with 3D images of Earth's interior, created using seismic waves from distant earthquakes (a technique called seismic tomography). One out of the four seismic tomographic models that we considered matched the locations of past giant volcanic eruptions, implying that the fixed BLOBS scenario cannot be ruled out for geologically recent times – the past 300 million years. One of the next steps for this research is to explore the chemical nature of BLOBS and plume conduits. We can do so with simulations that track the evolution of their composition. Our results suggest the deep Earth is dynamic. BLOBS, which are some 2,000km below Earth's surface, move hundreds of kilometres over time, and are connected to Earth's surface by mantle plumes that create giant eruptions. To take a step back and keep things in perspective: while deep Earth motions are significant over tens of millions of years, they are generally in the order of 1 centimetre per year. This means BLOBS shift in a year at roughly the rate at which human hair grows each month. Nicolas Flament is an Associate Professor and ARC Future Fellow in Environmental Futures, School of Science at the University of Wollongong.
