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Why Are We So Drawn to Junk Food?
Janina Papino is an associate professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Janina says that we already know the delicious ingredients in junk food that hook us. They're salt, sugar or something with lots of umami, which is a savory flavor that you can taste in miso soup or tomato sauce. In processed foods, these are often combined with fat because fat helps us taste those flavors better.