A controlled trial found that just days of eating high-sugar, high-fat junk food causes insulin resistance in the brain, independent of weight gain. This "metabolic scar" weakens satiety signals and increases hunger, creating a self-reinforcing cycle that persists even after the binge ends.
Junk food like this does something crazy to the brain. Researchers found in a human-controlled trial that overeating high-sugar, high-fat food for a few days led to insulin resistance in the brain that was totally independent of weight gain and persisted after the binge period ceased. What this really means, what this revealed, is that junk food— the issue with eating junk food isn't just caloric overload. It's not the a little bit of love handle you add, but a metabolic scar that allows the junk food binge to propagate. Decreased satiety, increased hunger, with one binge leading to the next, leading to the next. Binge snowball. That is the real danger, which is a shame because Sour Patch Kids are freaking delicious.
