Sugar Found to Be More Addictive Than Cocaine

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http://www.slashfood.com/2007/08/27/sugar-found-to-be-more-addictive-than-cocaine/


We've known for years that sugar isn't good for us. It promotes tooth decay, provides quick highs and lows and offers nothing but empty, nutritionless calories that pack on the pounds. However, it appears that it is even worse than we previously thought. Researchers recently determined that refined sugar is actually more addictive than cocaine. In a recent study rats were given a choice between sugar water and cocaine, and 94% them chose sugar. Even the rats that had previously been addicted to cocaine switched to the sugar once it was a choice. No wonder it's so hard to give up that 3 pm pack of M&M's, it's more addictive than illegal drugs.

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i want to find the other thing and put it in first post and edit and this here

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Sugar...ne-61862.shtml


Craving for sugar seems to be a much more serious problem than you thought. If you believe that craving for cocaine in the case of addiction to this drug is terribly difficult to bear, you’d better find out the result of a research team at the University of Bordeaux in France.

"[W]hen rats were
allowed to choose mutually-exclusively between water sweetened with saccharin-an intense calorie-free sweetener-and intravenous cocaine-a highly addictive and harmful substance-the large majority of animals (94%) preferred the sweet taste of saccharin. The preference for saccharin was not attributable to its unnatural ability to induce sweetness without calories because the same preference was also observed with sucrose, a natural sugar. Finally, the preference for saccharin was not surmountable by increasing doses of cocaine and was observed despite either cocaine intoxication, sensitization or intake escalation-the latter being a hallmark of drug addiction.", wrote the researchers.

"Our findings clearly demonstrate that intense sweetness can surpass cocaine reward, even in drug-sensitized and -addicted individuals." they concluded.

Still, some researchers point out that these conclusions could not be applied directly to humans. Humans are generally aware that something they're ingesting could get them "h

[FoolsGold]

"Addictive" is really a subjective determination.
We use the term " kicking the habit " to reference the heroin addict's withdrawal symptoms wherein leg muscle jerks are frequent and occasionally strong enough to break the addict's bones.
Now you can cite all the evidence you want that coffee, sugar, or yoghurt is addictive but no one going through withdrawal from those substances displays the same 'kicking the habit' symptoms or anything near that intesity.
This is how tobacco executives get to stand up there and say nicotine is not addictive. And if ever called before the Congress, I guess the sugar executives will say the same thing!

[houghchrst]

Throw a bag of suckers in the middle of the table at a rehab center during a meeting and you will totally understand this. I usually took my son's Halloween candy that he wouldn't eat and there would be lighthearted fights over who was getting what. I have been clean and sober for almost 10 yrs and if you take away my sweets I will be reduced to doing you bodily harm.

[tic chick]

foolsgold,

i don't think "addiction" is a subjectively determined definition. there are definite behavior's one exhibits when one is addicted to a substance.

the physical difficulty of the withdrawal does not negate the fact that substances such as sugar, coffee or alcohol are just as hard to withdraw from as cocaine or other illegal drugs.

that's why even activties, specifically sex and eating, can also be addictive. it's the problems they cause in your life and your inability to recognize that your behavior is a problem that is the hallmark of addiction.

addictive behavior stems from the brain. that's why withdrawing from one substance doesn't prevent you from becoming addicted to another.

it's better to understand that one has an addictive personality. that way, when you find yourself exhibiting addictive behavior, you can get help to deal with it before it starts affecting your quality of life.

as with life, it is all "one day at a time".

thanks for sharing,
jeannie