Quitting junk food might lead to withdrawal symptoms, which could be similar to the effects seen in people avoiding drugs. These symptoms could last for up to a week, a new study has found.
A new study by University of Michigan studies looked into the side effects people face after they decided to quit eating junk food such as pizza, fries, and pastries.
Researchers agree that the addictive characteristic of tobacco, drugs or liquor influences the brain in the same way and reducing their intake can prompt negative symptoms that can make it difficult to quit these drugs. Migraines, anxiety, irritability, and depression are a few of these symptoms
Understanding whether withdrawal may likewise happen with highly processed foods was a following stage in assessing whether these foods can also trigger withdrawal reactions.
The group created the first self-report tool to measure the physical and mental withdrawal side effects among people, asking 231 adults to report on what happened when they cut down on eating highly prcessed food over last year.
The members reported that feelings were quite similar as in the case of quitting junk for two to five days, at that point the negative reactions decreased, which parallels the time course of drug withdrawal side effects, the study found.
The U-M researchers did not focus on the strategy used to change their eating conduct, for example, members quitting without any weaning period or gradually quitting eeating junk food.
The findings have been published in the latest issue of Appetite.
