If you've just given up burgers, pizza, pastries and any other fatty fast food, a new study will make you pause for thought.
Researchers from the University of Michigan (UM) have found that junk food is essentially addictive and that people who ditch fatty foods experience the same sadness, irritability, tiredness, cravings and depression experienced by drug and alcohol abusers when they quit.
The study, which was conducted among 231 adults aged 19-68, asked participants to record any reaction to the cutting back on highly processed and fatty foods over a year.
"What all researchers can agree upon is that the addictive qualities of tobacco, drugs or alcohol affect the brain similarly and cutting back can lead to negative side effects that can make it difficult to reduce intake. Anxiety, headaches, irritability and depression are some of those outcomes," said Erica Schulte, the study's lead author and UM psychology doctoral candidate.
The withdrawal symptoms were said to last for five days before tapering off, with the first two days said to be the most intense days – much like the pattern of drug withdrawal symptoms.
Previous studies have focused on sugar withdrawal in animals, but the data pertaining to humans thus far has been just anecdotal evidence.
The researchers say they didn't focus on the methodology used to change their eating behaviour, like whether the quitting was as a result of going cold turkey or through a process of gradual phasing out.
Study co-author and Associate Professor of Psychology Ashley Gearhardt said the study implications suggest that withdrawal symptoms could make making dietary changes even harder and as a result, contribute to people relapsing and reverting to bad eating habits.
