Study says sugar as addictive as drugs

December 11, 9:29 AMSt. Louis Low-Carb ExaminerAmy Dungan

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You might as well be snorting this... (but don't!)  Source

Losing weight is easy right? You just expend more calories than you consume and all will be well. At least that’s always what we’ve been told. It seems so simple, so why is obesity at epidemic proportions in our country? The low-carb advocates have been saying for years that weight loss is much more complicated than that. It’s more than calories in, calories out. Quality is as important as quantity.  Along with this belief we have also been trying to make people understand the addictive properties of carbohydrates, especially sugar. A recent study is proving we are right. (I promise not to rub it in their faces… much.)

Lead researcher Bart Hoebel , a professor of psychology at Princeton University, explains this during a Dec. 4th teleconference. "Our evidence from an animal model suggests that bingeing on sugar can act in the brain in ways very similar to drugs of abuse," said Hoebel.

"Drinking large amounts of sugar water when hungry can cause behavioral changes and even neurochemical changes in the brain which resemble changes that are produced when animals or people take substances of abuse. These animals show signs of withdrawal and even long-lasting effects that might resemble craving," he said.

"The big question has been whether it's just a behavioral thing or is it a metabolic chemical thing, and evidence like this supports the idea that something chemical is going on.” Said Dr. Louis Aronne, director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City.

Sugar is not only addictive, but it’s detrimental to our health.  Sadly it’s something that is almost impossible to avoid unless you’re a savvy consumer. (Or you’ve decided to quit eating, which isn’t a good option.)  The good news is that it’s not hard to educate yourself on the various forms of sugar.  Make reading nutrition labels a regular habit and keep an eye out for the “red flags”.  The following ingredients should set off those little warning bells in your head:

• Corn Syrup
• High Fructose Corn Syrup
• Fructose
• Sugar
• Brown Sugar
• Cane juice
• Dextrose
• Glucose
• Honey
• Molasses
• Lactose
• Sucrose
• Maltose
• Rice Syrup
• Sorghum
• (If it ends in –ose, it’s probably a sugar.)

I love this quote by Hoebel regarding weight loss:

"Some say it's easy to lose weight -- you just have to shut your mouth, stop eating so much," Aronne said. "I tell them a good way to overcome global warming is if people made less carbon dioxide by breathing less. Obviously, that's absurd. You can't do it because you feel uncomfortable. The same thing is true of eating," he added. "Fattening food has an impact on the regulating mechanism that breaks down your sense of fullness, makes you feel an urge to go back and get that blast of sugar and this creates the vicious cycle of weight gain that we're going through."

Unlike the rats in this study, we have a choice. Let’s make the right one.