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Vitamin D Improves Blood Sugar in Diabetics may Pr...
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Scientists Show Sugar is Addictive
February 02, 2010: 1 comment(s)
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While a lucky few may never feel the urge to have sugar in their life, most of us have experienced the highs, the pleasures and the cravings to have those little white granules found in our personal favorites: ice cream, cakes, donuts, candy or sodas and privately have wondered if we had an addiction to this stuff.
Professor Bart Hoebel and his team at Princeton University have been study sugar addiction for a number of years. According to Professor Hoebel individuals who use sugar consistently and sugar binge can show all of the classic signs of addictive behavior: a behavioral pattern of increased intake, signs of withdrawal, and cravings and relapse.
Using rats as a study model, Professor Hoebel discovered that the chemical dopamine is released in the brain in an area known as the nucleus accumbens when they drink a sugar solution. Dopamine is thought to be a chemical trigger that initiates the desire to want or like something, and eventually with repeated stimulation and release believed to be the chemical basis for addiction.
“Cravings and relapse are critical components of addiction, and we have been able to demonstrate these behaviors in sugar-bingeing rats in a number of ways.”
Hungry rats that binge on sugar experience a surge of dopamine in their brains. After a month, the brain shows adaptation to these increased levels of dopamine by increasing opioid receptors. The increased levels of dopamine and opioid receptors are essential to our motivation and rewards systems that cause us to want something and drive our behavior to go get it. Similar changes have been found in the brains of rats on cocaine and heroin.
Hoebel has shown that rats eating large amount of sugar or that sugar binge, undergo neurochemical changes in their brains that mimic changes found in the brains of individuals who use substances of abuse like cocaine, morphine and nicotine.
“If bingeing on sugar is really a form of addiction, there should be long-lasting effects in the brains of sugar addicts,” Hoebel said.
Sugar withdrawals also occurred in the experiments of Professor Hoebel. If sugar was withdrawn from the rats, the dopamine levels in their brain dropped and they experienced signs of anxiety: chattering teeth and preferring to stay still rather than engaging in their normal exploratory behavior.
Hoebel concludes, “Our work provides links between the traditionally defined substance-use disorders, such as drug addiction, and the development of abnormal desires for natural substances.”
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Comments (Scroll to the end to leave a comment)
Marg Macdonald
02/10/10 09:12
I would like to have none how to beat the addition to sugar.
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