Aaaaaargh!

Is addiction to blame for our high-fat diets? Yes of course it is, because everyone knows that fat is addictive.  Look at fat folk gorging on butter and lard.  Not a grain of sugar in sight.  Baise moi.

Sugar addiction makes it on to Wiki:

• There has been reference to the idea of sugar addiction in the popular literature for a number of years. In 1998, Kathleen DesMaisons[2] outlined the concept of sugar addiction as a measurable physiological state caused by activation of mu opioid receptors in the brain. Her work extracted data from studies done by Blass[3] showing that sugar acted as an analgesic drug whose effects could be blocked by a morphine blocker. Acting on years of anecdotal evidence from her work in the field of addiction, DesMaisons noted that dependence on sugar followed the same track outlined in the DSM IV for other drugs of abuse.

I couldn't find an entry for fat-addiction, but googling that term brought up this story - "Food addiction: Fat may rewire brain like hard drugs"

• Over eating may be driven by a same neurobiological mechanism in the brain as drug addition, says a new study from the US that adds clout to the theory ‘food addiction’.
  Data from a study with laboratory rats indicated that the development of obesity was accompanied by a break-down in brain chemistry linked to pleasure responses. According to findings published in Nature Neuroscience, the very same changes occur when rats over-consume heroin or cocaine.
  "These findings confirm what we and many others have suspected that overconsumption of highly pleasurable food triggers addiction-like neuroadaptive responses in brain reward circuitries, driving the development of compulsive eating," said lead researcher Dr Paul Kenny, from The Scripps Research Institutein Florida.
  "Common mechanisms may therefore underlie obesity and drug addiction,” he added.
  The data appears to refocus attention on the formulation of foods, and the Western diet in particular – the researchers fed the rats easy-to-obtain high-calorie, high-fat foods like sausage, bacon, and cheesecake.

Ah yes, high fat cheesecake.  Full of sugar. The article describes the junk food used in the diet as ‘cafeteria-style’.  Go to a any cafeteria and I guarantee that you'll see pastries and cookies, sugared snacks, breads, cakes and muffins.  Why single out 'fat'?  The full paper is available as a free PDF but I can't be arsed to register to read it. 

All I know is that whilst I can stuff myself with paleo food and effortlessly follow my hunger and maintain 'abs', come Christmas I will be belt-feeding Quality Street.  As an addict myself I can tell you EXACTLY where the hit comes from.