A delicious indulgence, or your next desperate hit? (Image: Jonphotography.com)

Is that cupcake an innocent indulgence? Or your next hit? We’re finding that a sweet tooth makes you just as much an addict as snorting cocaine

SETTLED on the sofa watching the usual rubbish on TV, I notice that predictable, uncontrollable, nightly craving. At first I sit there, fighting it. But the longer I fight, the worse it gets. After 20 minutes, I can’t concentrate on anything, I feel anxious, and start fidgeting like crazy. Finally, admitting my addiction, I break. I go to the freezer – to my stash of white stuff – and take a hit. Almost instantly, I relax, my brain in a state of bliss as the chemical courses through my veins. Isn’t it amazing what a few scoops of ice cream can do?

Before you dismiss my agitation as mere weakness, consider this: to my brain, sugar is akin to cocaine. There is now compelling evidence that foods high in sugar, fat and salt – as most junk foods are – can alter your brain chemistry in the same way as highly addictive drugs such as cocaine and heroin.

The idea, considered fringe just five years ago, is fast becoming a mainstream view among researchers as new studies in humans confirm initial animal findings, and the biological mechanisms that lead to “junk-food addiction” are being revealed. Some say there is now enough data to warrant government regulation of the fast food industry and public health warnings on products that have harmful levels of sugar and fat. One campaigning lawyer claims there could even be enough evidence to mount a …