From chocolate digestives to custard creams, this is why biscuits are so addictive

Ever wondered why you can never just stop at one biscuit?

Once you’ve had that first one, the chances are you’ll be back for another, and another. And suddenly the whole pack is gone.

It turns out it’s not in your imagination. Some foods really are more addictive than others.

According to chartered psychologist and former Great British Bake Off finalist Kimberley Wilson, sugary foods often light up the reward centres in our brains.

Add to that the fact they’re seen as a ‘treat’ and it makes them pretty addictive.

Speaking on the latest episode of Britain is a Nation Of…., a new podcast by Yahoo News UK, she said: “Often biscuits are a treat food, they are something we don’t have very often and so it kind of heightens the enjoyment and the pleasure of them, and what we really want is the pleasure and the deliciousness.”

Listen to the full episode of Britain is a nation of… below

She went on: “All foods light up our reward centres, but sweet foods and sugary things, particularly if we have some nostalgia with them, if they were the thing we had when we were young, can just make us feel soothed and comforted.

“So often it’s not necessarily the food, it’s the feeling that comes with it.”

It’s no secret that Britain loves its biscuits – last year figures showed that 420,000 tonnes of them were eaten in 2016.

According to a YouGov poll, the nation’s favourite biscuit is a chocolate digestive, with three different forms of digestive making it into the top ten.

And with biscuits so popular, the worst thing you can do is to try to stop yourself from eating them, says Wilson.

“If you do restrict something – if you say, ‘oh I shouldn’t eat biscuits, I shouldn’t have this’, then you’re much more likely to crave them and you’re more likely to over-eat them,” she says.

“So it’s actually much better just to be, like, ‘I can have if if I want to, if I don’t that’s all cool’, and then there’s no need to worry about going wild.”

To hear more unpacking of statistics about British people, listen to the full episode above, or download it on Apple Podcasts, Acast, or Spotify to listen while on the go.