Pratyushee Ghosh, Amity University Kolkata
The beginning of anything auspicious or good was followed by sweets or any other kind of sugar stuff. This is what we Indians believe and follow for ages. From grandmothers treating us to chocolates upon meeting them to celebrating our birthdays by cutting cakes, sweets, or broadly speaking, sugar has always been a part and parcel of our lives. Cut to the modern days, we hear myths of sugar being as addictive as cocaine, and here am I to bust it.
Sugar happens genuinely in many foods, especially fruits and vegetables. However, it’s also a preferred additive.
Many confirmations are showing that adding an excessive amount of sugar to food is harmful. Scientists have linked it with obesity, insulin resistance, increases in belly fat and liver fat, and diseases like type 2 diabetes and a heart condition
However, avoiding added sugar will be difficult. One reason is that manufacturers add it to several premade foods, including savoury sauces and fast foods.
In episodes, some people encounter yearning for foods that are elevated with sugar.
This has led some experts to believe that sugar and therefore the foods that contain it have addictive properties.
There are proofs to support this in both animals and humans. Sugar can activate identical areas within the brain as recreational drugs, and it can cause similar behavioural symptoms.
Some go as far as to claim that sugar is eight times more addictive than cocaine.
This professes from a study that found that rats favoured water sweetened with sugar or saccharin over intravenous cocaine.
It was a noticeable outcome but didn’t prove that sugar has an addictive pull for humans, compared to cocaine.
Sugar can trigger health problems, and it should be addictive. However, it’s doubtful to be more addictive than cocaine. Experiments are illustrating that sugar can revive the brain’s reward processing center. This is in a manner that imitates what we see with some recreational drugs. But the drug comparison is always a hard one because, unlike drugs, food is obligatory for continuity.
Also read: Can bacterial toxins show a positive or healing effect?
REFERENCE
- Kimber L Stanhope , Jean-Marc Schwarz, Peter J Havel; Adverse metabolic effects of dietary fructose: results from the recent epidemiological, clinical, and mechanistic studies. Affiliations expand PMID: 23594708 PMCID: PMC4251462 DOI: 10.1097/MOL.0b013e3283613bca. URL: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23594708/
- Daniel M Blumenthal, Mark S Gold; Neurobiology of food addiction. Affiliations expand PMID: 20495452 DOI: 10.1097/MCO.0b013e32833ad4d4. URL: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20495452/
- Nicole M. Avena, Pedro Rada, and Bartley G. Hoebel; Evidence for sugar addiction: Behavioral and neurochemical effects of intermittent, excessive sugar intake; 2009; History of Human Sciences; DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2007.04.019
- Margaret L. Westwater, Paul C. Fletcher, and Hisham Ziauddeen; Sugar addiction: the state of the science; 2016; European Journal of Nutrition; DOI: 10.1007/s00394-016-1229-6
- Magalie Lenoir, Fuschia Serre, Lauriane Cantin, and Serge H. Ahmed; Intense Sweetness Surpasses Cocaine Reward; 2007; Public Library of Science; DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0000698
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