Uma Naidoo, MD is a nutritional psychiatrist and a member of the Department of Psychiatry at Mass General Hospital and the author of the books This Is Your Brain on Food and Calm Your Mind with Food. In this interview with the Harvard Gazette, she answers why we experience junk food cravings and how we can stop them.
She highlights the fact that our bodies are hardwired to seek energy-dense foods due to evolutionary reasons, but modern ultra-processed foods exploit this tendency by tapping into our brain’s pleasure centers. Dr. Naidoo describes how junk food affects our brain chemistry, affecting neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin, and hormones such as ghrelin and leptin, creating a cycle of craving and consumption.
How to combat these cravings? Dr. Naidoo has some suggestions.
