Is Food More Addictive Now? So, I grew up in the 80s in the US.  Of course, there were fats then too, but nowhere near the rate they exist now. I work for a grocery chain, and when I'm out on the floor, I always peek at obese people's shopping carts out of interest.  In fact, I've done this since I was a kid shitlord; a sort of morbid curiosity. What I've noticed is exactly as you'd expect - carts full of frozen pizza, chips, cookies, and other highly processed, high calorie, nutrionally sparse garbage... and the occasional pre-packaged trash marketed as "diet". This got me wondering - even though I see more fat people with more bad food choices now, the same food existed in the 80s.  You could buy pizzas and frozen burritos and soda, etc., but fewer people lived exclusively off of that crap.  I thought at first it might be generational, since millenials mostly grew up in the "here's a trophy for nothing, don't tolerate criticism or self reflection" culture.  However, I see just as many fats making a cart full of bad choices among people my age and older. So what's happening?  Is there some additive that the junk dealers figured out is more addictive?  Is it only culture?  Anyone know what's happening?