Study Confirms Ice Cream Is Kind Of Like Crack

We've all accidentally gone through a half-pint of ice cream in one night (right?) but here, a study kind of justifies that sort of behavior.

Researchers from the Oregon Research Institute found that one could potentially become addicted to ice cream. With drugs, addicts are less and less satisfied with each hit, although they crave it more. The study found similar effects in childrens' brains when they ate ice cream.

The results, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, followed 151 kids, all of them at a healthy weight. The kids were asked about their eating habits and cravings, then scanned with an fMRI machine while showing them a cartoon of a milkshake (measuring craving). Then, the kids were given a real chocolate shake (made with Häagen Dazs) and scanned once more.

The researchers, Kyle S. Burger and Eric Stice, found that all the kids craved the shake, but those who ate more ice cream enjoyed it less.

"Overconsumption of these foods down regulates reward processes," Burger told MSNBC. "That may, in turn, make you eat more... You could be continually trying to match the earlier experience." But what if those kids just wanted a vanilla shake instead?

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