Give me some sugar: Sugar Addiction

We all like sweet things, some more then others. And in moderation sweet treats are good. But when 15 minutes has pass and you wonder way that new bag of Herseys kisses is empty, you might want to look at your sugar consumption. I know I had to. Why did/do I always want to eat those sweets that my really nice co-worker brings in and leaves compeltly unguarded and offers me to have as many as I want? Doesn't she know I'm weak?!? But in reality I know it all comes down to me not putting the food into my mouth. How hard is that? Well turns out if you're use to having sweets more often then not, it could be more difficult then you think. Difficult but not impossible.

It's like an army forcing my to enjoy the sweet sweet goodness!

New studies are being done to examine the connection between sugar and addiction. The following are the abstracts from a study done in '09 called "Evidence for sugar addiction: Behavioral and neurochemical effects of intermittent, excessive sugar intake" written by Nicole M. Avena, Pedro Rada, and Bartley G. Hoebel. Sounds yummy.

The experimental question is whether or not sugar can be a substance of abuse and lead to a natural form of addiction. “Food addiction” seems plausible because brain pathways that evolved to respond to natural rewards are also activated by addictive drugs. Sugar is noteworthy as a substance that releases opioids and dopamine and thus might be expected to have addictive potential. This review summarizes evidence of sugar dependence in an animal model. Four components of addiction are analyzed. “Bingeing”, “withdrawal”, “craving” and cross-sensitization are each given operational definitions and demonstrated behaviorally with sugar bingeing as the reinforcer. These behaviors are then related to neurochemical changes in the brain that also occur with addictive drugs. Neural adaptations include changes in dopamine and opioid receptor binding, enkephalin mRNA expression and dopamine and acetylcholine release in the nucleus accumbens. The evidence supports the hypothesis that under certain circumstances rats can become sugar dependent. This may translate to some human conditions as suggested by the literature on eating disorders and obesity.

So the ideas is to see if they can get rat addicted to sugar, which they did, will the rats go through withdrawls and addiction, which they do.

After a month on this intermittent-feeding schedule, the animals show a series of behaviors similar to the effects of drugs of abuse. These are categorized as “bingeing”, meaning unusually large bouts of intake, opiate-like “withdrawal” indicated by signs of anxiety and behavioral depression (Colantuoni et al., 2001, 2002), and “craving” measured during sugar abstinence as enhanced responding for sugar (Avena et al., 2005).

So it can happen. You can be addicted to sugar. You can crave it and need a fix of the sweet sweet white stuff. But why? What is it about sugar that makes it addictive? Is it sugar and is it us? Are we a species of addicts just looking for our own "drug of choice". Maybe it's as simple as we just want to feel good.

A well-known characteristic of addictive drugs is their ability to cause repeated, intermittent increases in extracellular dopamine (DA) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) (Di Chiara and Imperato, 1988, Hernandez and Hoebel, 1988, Wise et al., 1995). We find that rats with intermittent access to sugar will drink in a binge-like manner that releases DA in the NAc each time, like the classic effect of most substances of abuse (Avena et al., 2006, Rada et al., 2005b). This consequently leads to changes in the expression or availability of DA receptors (Colantuoni et al., 2001, Spangler et al., 2004).

Interestingly this study went so far as to show a connection between sugar and alcohol.

Rats maintained on intermittent sugar access and then forced to abstain, subsequently show enhanced intake of 9% alcohol (Avena et al., 2004). This suggests that intermittent access to sugar can be a gateway to alcohol use. Others have shown that animals that prefer sweet-taste will self-administer cocaine at a higher rate (Carroll et al., 2006). As with the locomotor cross-sensitization described above, underlying this behavior are presumably neurochemical alterations in the brain, such as adaptations in DA and perhaps opioid functions.

In conclustion...

Food is not ordinarily like a substance of abuse, but intermittent bingeing and deprivation changes that. Based on the observed behavioral and neurochemical similarities between the effects of intermittent sugar access and drugs of abuse, we suggest that sugar, as common as it is, nonetheless meets the criteria for a substance of abuse and may be “addictive” for some individuals when consumed in a “binge-like” manner. This conclusion is reinforced by the changes in limbic system neurochemistry that are similar for the drugs and for sugar. The effects we observe are smaller in magnitude than those produced by drug of abuse such as cocaine or morphine; however, the fact that these behaviors and neurochemical changes can be elicited with a natural reinforcer is interesting. It is not clear from this animal model if intermittent sugar access can result in neglect of social activities as required by the definition of dependency in the DSM-IV-TR (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Nor is it known whether rats will continue to self-administer sugar despite physical obstacles, such as enduring pain to obtain sugar, as some rats do for cocaine (Deroche-Gamonet et al., 2004). Nonetheless, the extensive series of experiments revealing similarities between sugar-induced and drug-induced behavior and neurochemistry, as chronicled in Sections 4 and 5, lends credence to the concept of “sugar addiction”, gives precision to its definition, and provides a testable model.

Sugar isn't evil, it isn't good, but it isn't the reason we're addicted to it. Our brain wants us to be happy. Lake any good brain, it's trying to help us by releasing the little happy signals. But as the hubby said "A little of anything can lead to a lot."

So here I am one week into my 30 day. I still want sweet things, those signals go off like fire alarms when I see that open bag (I don't even have to do anything but eat it) of tempting goodness. But I want to be healthy more then I want to feel guilty/empty/depressed and need another "fix". And as with any addiction, the best way to get off it is cold turkey. Preferably wrapped in a lettuce leaf with just a touch of mustard.

Besides sugar crashes suck, no matter how cute they look ;)