I’ve said before that sugar is more addictive than cocaine (I’m not making this up—earlier research has documented this phenomenon). A new study in today’s paper, conducted in France, has been presented to the annual meeting for the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego.
Rats offered a choice between cocaine and sugar chose . . . sugar. Researchers started with saccharin-sweetened water, and rats chose that over cocaine. They switched to sugar water, and rats chose that over cocaine. They then tried cocaine-addicted rats, and even THEY chose the sugar.
Cocaine increases the brain chemical dopamine, but so does sugar, just via different mechanisms. Sugar is the upstanding citizen’s cocaine. This surely has everything to do with the obesity epidemic.
Parents, we unwittingly fuel this epidemic by giving our kids sugary yogurt, drinks, cereal, and treats when they’re little. We make them addicts for life and begin burning out their tissue binders and making them at high risk for all degenerative diseases at a younger age than any generation has been exposed. And our kids don’t have the strong genetics that our grandparents had, to withstand the modern diet’s destructive effects.
Young moms, you have so much power to change everything!
Thank you for your inspring words. I am a young mom of three, and I have been looking for support to help with raising them to eat healthy. I love your site (just found it yesterday) and am reading through all your posts.
Best of luck to you