Crisps are as addictive as hard drugs, according to science

The Prime Minister gave them up for lent, we eat four times more of them than the French or Italians, 60 per cent of us eat them at least once a week and the market is worth over £1 billion.

Why are Brits so obsessed with crisps?

We're addicted to them and its a habit that's very hard to quit, according to Neuroscientist Dr Tony Goldstone.

Dr Goldstone of Imperial College London studied the brains of snack-eaters and drug-addicts to find that there's a lot of similarities between the two.

Goldstone scanned the brains of overweight volunteers while being shown pictures of crisps and other junk food.

He found that showing an overweight person crisps had the same affect in the same areas as the brain as showing someone with a substance abuse an image of drugs or alcohol.

His team also found that showing the participants healthy food made the same part of the brain react. The reaction was even stronger than when it was shown junk food.

Healthy foods are actually more palatable but our brains have also evolved to crave the foods that give us short doses of high energy (like crisps and sugar-based snacks).

Marion Hetherington, Professor of Biopsychology at Leeds University, a specialist in human appetite found that when it comes to bagged goods research shows that we eat until the bag is finished, regardless of the size or our levels of hunger.

This is intensified when we are distracted. As people don't realise how much they're eating while doing things like watching TV or sitting in the cinema.

HT MailOnline

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