Research has determined that there is a strong correlation between addiction to drugs and an addiction to eating. Now, scientists from the Scripps Research Institute have shown that the same molecular mechanisms that drive people to a drug addiction also impact the compulsion to overeat – leading to obesity.

A Science Daily release recently focused on this study, conducted by Scripps Research Associate Professor Paul J. Kenny and graduate student Paul M. Johnson. Interesting findings from the study include the clear demonstration that in rat models, the development of obesity coincides with a progressively deteriorating chemical balance in reward brain circuitries.

As these centers become less and less responsive, the rats quickly develop compulsive overeating habits, consuming more and more high-calorie, high-fat foods until they become obese. The same changes have been observed in the brains of rats that over consume cocaine or heroin and are thought to play an important role in the development of compulsive drug use.

“The new study, unlike our preliminary abstract, explains what happens in the brain of these animals when they have easy access to high-calorie, high-fat food,” said Kenny, in the Science Daily.

“It presents the most thorough and compelling evidence that drug addiction and obesity are based on the same underlying neurobiological mechanisms. In the study, the animals completely lost control over their eating behavior, the primary hallmark of addiction. They continued to overeat even when they anticipated receiving electric shocks, highlighting just how motivated they were to consume the palatable food.”

Kenny went on to note that what happens is simple and lethal. The reward pathways in the brain become so over-stimulated that the system essentially shuts itself off and adapts to the new reality of addiction. It doesn’t matter if the substance is cocaine or cupcakes.