Dr. Mercola August 06 2007 83,633 views
According to a new research study, refined sugar is far more addictive than cocaine -- one of the most addictive and harmful substances currently known.
An astonishing 94 percent of rats who were allowed to choose mutually-exclusively between sugar water and cocaine, chose sugar. Even rats who were addicted to cocaine quickly switched their preference to sugar, once it was offered as a choice. The rats were also more willing to work for sugar than for cocaine.
The researchers speculate that the sweet receptors (two protein receptors located on the tongue), which evolved in ancestral times when the diet was very low in sugar, have not adapted to modern times’ high-sugar consumption.
Therefore, the abnormally high stimulation of these receptors by our sugar-rich diets generates excessive reward signals in the brain, which have the potential to override normal self-control mechanisms, and thus lead to addiction.
Additionally, their research found that there’s also a cross-tolerance and a cross-dependence between sugars and addictive drugs. As an example, animals with a long history of sugar consumption actually became tolerant (desensitized) to the analgesic effects of morphine.PLoS ONE (Free Full-Text Article)
Refined sugar was almost nonexistent in the diet of most people until very recently. Today, the over-consumption of sugar not only contributes to, but drives the current obesity epidemic.
Reducing your sugar intake should be on the top of your list, regardless of whether you’re currently overweight or not. Why? Because it’s been proven over and over that sugar increases your insulin levels, which can lead to:
In fact, because sugar is bad for your health in so many ways, I created an entire list outlining 100-Plus Ways in Which Sugar Can Damage Your Health!
Now having pointed out the dangers of sugar, does that mean you should never eat sugar? Certainly not. While it clearly tends to decrease your health, sugar in moderation is likely not going to cause any significant damage. What do I mean by moderation? Well, something on the order of five pounds a year. This is considerably less than the amount the average American consumes which is closer to 175 pounds per year.
Another better use of sugar is anytime you want to use artificial sweeteners. After researching this area for many years and writing a book, Sweet Deception, on the topic, I am absolutely convinced that sugar is a healthier and much safer option than using these poisons. However, ideally you would not use either, but if you have a choice between sugar and chemical options always go with the real deal.
Controlling your insulin levels is one of the most important things you can do to optimize your overall health, and avoiding sugar is essential to doing this.
Keep in mind that refined sugar is not the only culprit. Starch, in the form of grains and potatoes, should also be limited within your diet in order to lose weight and feel better. Following my nutrition plan is a simple way to automatically reduce your intake of grains and sugars.
Just as this study confirms, sugar is highly addictive. Fortunately, energy psychology tools like the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) can be enormously helpful in kicking the sugar habit. You can use EFT to successfully treat a wide variety of emotional stresses, including the food cravings related to sugar.
This article is absolutely correct, imo. In my professional experience, it is quite rare for sugar cravings to subside within a day or two after eliminating sugar. If this has happened for you, count yourself lucky. I didn't read all the posts, but don't think I saw anyone mention the book "Sugar Blues" by William Dufty. It's a classic, a brilliant read and explains the whole history of sugar, not only in this nation, but the rest of the world. (Btw, anytime a food can be used as currency in history, it must have some real passionate users behind it.)
Has anyone ever been to an A.A. meeting? What are they drinking? eating? Sugar! & caffeine or both. I've known and counseled many addicts and all had the sugar addiction in common. You can't always say the addiction is as bad as cocaine, no. But many will say the withdrawal experience was similarly difficult and painful.
I pity anyone, including myself, that has to be around those who are coming down off a sugar addiction...not fun! The more whole foods and detoxifying natural substances you get into them, the faster the process goes.
I worked psych for many years. One of the most common characteristics of those trying to quit an addiction was sugar. (And caffeine and smoking). And the desire not to take responsibility for their behaviors, & for the docs to "fix" them so they didn't have to go thru the pain & consequences of their choices. But i'm getting off point here.
After 15 tears as a secondary researcher in the health field, in 91, I did a statistical correlation between sugar consumption and degenerative disease on a world wide population base. The degenerative disease figures per country, came from WHO and the sugar consumption came from a sugar industry marketing paper. I used a country by country comparison and their average respective consumption rate verses disease rate. The sugar figures were for High Fructose corn syrup and sucrose, the two most prevalent commercial sugars but did not include, dextrose lactose, maltose, honey maple syrup, molasses dried fruits or fruit juices.
Interestingly there was a 96% correlation between the two. This boils down to the fact that the higher the sugar consumption in any country in the world, the higher the disease rate. It took another 5 years of research to determine the links between sugar and disease. I will make another post on that relationship.
The sugar consumption in the US in 1896 was 4.3 Pounds per person and that included sorghum, sucrose, honey, maple syrup and molasses. The consumption today is roughly 153 pounds for every man woman and child in the country, and that is for sucrose (white sugar) and high fructose corn syrup ONLY.
Sugar of any kind, (mono or disaccharide) drives your blood sugar up dramatically and uncontrollably into hyperglycemia and you crash 2 hours later into hypoglycemia. This roughly, 2 hour swing from ingestion to craving is the addictive cycle. If you get hunger pains, you are addicted. Anyone with stable blood sugar does not get hunger pains or go into a hypoglycemic state.
The allopathic medical profession has argued forever whether mono or disaccharide is better for you, the answer is neither. Once they enter the alimentary canal they go directly into the blood stream within 2 minutes. Depending upon the quantity you ingest, your system is driven into a hyperglycemic state (too high a blood sugar). More later
It's conceivable with amount of studies being directed at Glycobiology, the incorporation of the 8 required sugars in Harper's Biochemistry, that there may be a link between sugar addiction, weight gain, and the lack of 6 of these 8 biologic sugars presently in our Standard American Diet (SAD).
God designed a marvelous body and craving carbs may be an innate message that we are craving sugar. Just the wrong type.
Glyconutrients are essential for glycosythesis; including, many functions of the body, such as inflammation process, stem cell manufacture, immune modulation (not immune cell production, big difference), etc.
When it comes to sugar cravings (I steer clear of the word addiction, as cravings are a biological response to an imbalance), glyconutrients (per my experience with hundreds of clients dealing with this issue) seem to not significantly impact the biological / physical reason behind the cravings.
If you are interested in reducing / removing sugar cravings, perhaps you would like to try what has worked in my practice. Cleansing amounts of a good bacteria (or probiotic) that has PROVEN TO RE-COLONIZE in the digestive tract.
significanthealing.com/nuferm.htm talks about this.
There is one leader in the world in the area of probiotics, Czerral Wheeler of Australia. He sells his product under a few labels. The third party analysis indicates that this is the only probiotic that can culture foods and reproduce in the digestive tract.
I think people in this country are addicted to shopping (and Love MONEY) more than sugar--yet most wouldn't rob a bank, because they exercise self control (NO, DUH)...so too must control...yes use your cerebral cortex to override other older parts of our brain to say NO))DUH...
Dr Dave
Yeah. I have to agree with this one. I have tried both, and had some bad experiences with Cocaine. I do however, like sugar-- until after about an hour and I feel like crap.
I'm not surprised that the rats, given a choice between calories OR (and there's the key word ..'0R') 'crack' - chose the sugar, especially as rats are programmed to eat every 3 hours or so.
I'm very lucky inasmuch as I don't get sugar cravings whatsoever though the same cannot be said for starchy carbs. The odd thing with the latter, however, is that if I avoid them there is no craving, but just a tiny piece of bread or a small potato will set the cravings off as if a torrent of reward hormones (serotonin?) were pumped in behind a dam and I just HAVE to unleash it,
I'm male, 6' 3" and 216lbs and avoid most starchy carbs. I have a younger sister who is 5' 10" and 160lbs and who follows a similar fish-rich, starchy carb-poor diet . A third sibling, female as well, eats exactly what her brain tells her to eat (or doesn't eat at all and skips all meals 'til after 4 p.m.) She weighs (at a guess, it's a closely guarded secret) about 260lbs but is only 5' 8".
The entire rat experiment sounds like poor science but shows the power of food over the psyche.
I'm just back in Italy from UK and I have to say Dr. Mercola has opened my eyes. I was shocked to see the proportions of shelf-space devoted to appallingly bad "ready to eat" or "ready to drink" "foods", high in carbs, salt and additives - and all far more expensive than the sum of the cost of the components. A shrinking part of each of the supermarkets I went to was devoted to fresh foods (meat / fish / fruit / veg) and cheap, unadulterated tinned goods to be used in cooking (pulses, tomatoes). Most people's trolleys were filled with "junk" and I mean that in the sense of heroin as junk. Food to mess with your brain hormones and give you relief from the stress and pain of daily life, but with a terrible comedown that can only be dealt with by eating more "junk".
No wonder I barely saw a male over 40 (and many far younger) who wasn't overweight with terrible visceral fat. Does anyone in UK / US cook any more?
Along these lines, ... In the field of psychotherapy for alcoholism, ... about 15 years ago, (and it may still be true now), "THE" book on the subject amongst professionals in the field, which was entitled; PRACTICAL APPROACHES TO ALCOHOLISM PSYCHOTHERAPY - By; Zimberg, Wallace and Blume - - Asserted that the root cause of alcoholism is early loss of the mother, within the first five years of life.
Now in the healing art known as Oriental Medicine and the "Law of The Five Elements", ... the "Earth" element (which is the "mother"), and is associated with the stomach and the pancreas (referred to as the spleen in Chinese medicine), ... is also associated with the taste that is "sweet" -
I recall years ago when talking with a Navaho Indian in the southwest, he proposed that it was the sugar in the white mans alcohol that caused it to be so addictive and destructive to Native American people. It is true that the southwestern Native Americans had been creating their own form of alcohol (from certain cactus), since before the arrival of the whites. That non-sugar form of alcohol had only been used in certain ceremonial practices however, and was not a substance that was abused.
Slightly ... lol ! =D