Of course you do. There’s just something damn near irresistible about highly refined carbohydrates, even though we immediately regret each mouthful. So why can’t we stop eating them?  Fellow carb-loaders, science is on your side. There’s a growing body of research supporting the controversial notion of food addiction, which suggests that overconsumption of compounds like sugar, salt, and fat may alter your body chemistry like other addictive substances. And now, a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that that fettuccine you’re bingeing on might actually be changing your brain. The research team from Boston Children’s Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center recruited 12 men between the ages of 18-35 who were either overweight and obese. They then drank one of two nearly identical shakes: same calorie count, same sweetness, same taste. Except one shake was made with a fast-acting high-glycemic carb, like that found in junk food. The other shake was made with a slow-acting low-glycemic carbohydrate.  What happened to the junk-carb group? “In four hours, their blood sugar was crashing—it was below where it started,” said David Ludwig, MD, PhD, director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center at Boston Children’s Hospital. They reported being excessively hungry and craved more highly processed carbs—thus explaining the vicious cycle of overeating. The team also performed an MRI scan on the participants, and every member of the refined carb group showed the same thing: intense activation in the nucleus accumbens, the brain region considered central in rewards, cravings, and addiction. “It was a very durable and vigorous effect,” Dr. Ludwig said. “Rarely in a nutrition study do you get everybody responding the same way.” Though the deliciousness of processed carbs doesn’t make them any easier to resist, this study shows that a more powerful mechanism is at work, one that influences our hormones, metabolism, and brain function, regardless of taste, Dr. Ludwig explained.  For those who have tried and failed to lose weight, he believes cutting out processed carbs is the best place to start—right at the root of addiction. “Reducing refined carbohydrate intake may help overweight people avoid overeating,” he said.  More from Prevention: 10 Most Addictive Foods