Researchers add that could be fueling the obesity epidemic.
Alcohol and bingeing on junk foods stimulate the same parts of the brain, so it may be that people with a predisposition to alcoholism are replacing alcohol with junk foods. This is supposed to be especially true for women.
Researchers reporting in the Archives of General Psychiatry say the study suggests alcoholism and obesity are cross-heritable, much like alcoholism and drug addiction.
Researchers say some of this may be related to changes in the environment such as increased consumption of junk foods.
