Did you know that pizza is the most addictive food out there? Both flavor consultants and scientists believe that it’s so addictive because of its irresistible combination of fat, processed carbs and salt, which all together makes it an extremely addictive food for those who enjoy it and consume it. Another theory about pizza is that it’s addictive because it’s a great “survival” food, meaning that the sugar within the sauce and dough would give you energy, the fat would fill you up, and the salt would be vital for just about every aspect of the body’s function in general.
This new infographic from the team at How Long To Cook lists out the most addictive foods, and also includes those foods that are certainly the least addictive out there. Via a research study conducted by the University of Michigan, which utilized the Yale Food Addiction Scale, it was found that pizza was the most addictive food. The scale uses a range of 1 to 7 for scoring, where a 1 is a food that isn’t addictive at all, while a 7 would be a food that is classified as being extremely addictive. In this survey and study, pizza had the highest average score of 4.01.
Following pizza, the other foods within the list of the top ten most addicting foods were chocolate, chips, cookies, ice cream, french fries, cheeseburgers, soda (not diet), cake and cheese.
Also, according to this research done by the University of Michigan, it was found that the ten least addicting foods were cucumbers, carrots, beans (with no sauce), apples, brown rice, broccoli, bananas, salmon, corn (without salt or butter) and strawberries.
Unhealthy food can be extremely addictive because processed foods trigger a release of feel-good chemicals in our brains, and this can be aggravated in a big way by things like stress or depression.
