According to the Scripps Research Institute, junk food is just as addictive as heroin to humans.

When given scrumdillyumptious foods like Cheetos, gummy bears and chocolate cake, the brain actually responds the same way it does when given the hard drug. The junk food creates the response of an addict. When rats in a scientific study were given junk food to eat, they exhibited the same response and behaviors as the rats in the study who were given heroin.

(I have to pause and wonder at this—who is paying for these mice’s coke addiction? Are we actually manufacturing cocaine to be tested on mice? Or is that where the police drug bust spoils go? Just curious!)

Here’s how it works in the rats: as the animals eat high-calorie, high-fat foods, their pleasure centers dull as more and more is consumed. The rats, seeking that original “food high,” eat more and more food, causing them to overeat even when they are full.

The study coauthor, Paul Johnson, says that this research is “the most complete evidence to date that suggests obesity and drug addiction have common neurobiological underpinnings.”

Rats were also studied on high-fat diets versus low-calorie diets. The rats who were given tons of processed foods like bacon, cheesecake, and Ho Hos instantly craved more, eating more and becoming obese in the process. The researchers claim that they consumed over twice as much as the rats on the low-calorie diet.

The rats were so consumed with getting their food fix, in fact, that they were willing to undergo electric shocks if that’s what it took to get it. (Um, animal cruelty, anyone? I really think scientists are out looking for excuses to electrocute rats.)

Well, yeah—would you want to binge on kale and tofu?

Honestly, I can completely get this. People have Overeaters Anonymous meetings, after all, and doctors who treat patients who overeat provide treatments similar to those given to drug addicts. They are told that they are addicted to food—as well as using food as a substitute for love or something else—and even enter twelve-step programs to break their habits.

The difference, of course, is that drugs, for the most part, are pretty much bad for you all around. Food is necessary, and even some junk foods are okay to eat in small amounts. So where does the line lay between people who can stop after a single serving of Pringles and the people who pop and can’t stop—like, ever? And with any other vice, personal responsibility needs to come in somewhere. While I’d totally advocate taking more junk off the shelves and putting more good stuff in its place—after all, we definitely have more junk available to us than anything else—I’d also insist that we teach our kids how to make good food choices and lead positive, healthy lifestyles.