For the second month I am on a slimming diet, but the effects are poor. I can’t deny myself sweets. Even if I hold on bravely during the day, in the evening I will always reach for a bar, chocolate, candy. I can’t help myself. Can you be addicted to sweets? Ala, 22 years old
Sugar is a fuel for the body, but it is best when it is there supplied in the form of complex carbohydrates (bread, cereals, groats, etc.). Then the body gradually obtains energy from food, we do not observe it sudden spikes and drops in blood glucose levels.
The situation is different when we supply the body with sugar simple, just in the form of sweets, sweet drinks or sucrose. Then blood glucose rises very quickly. In response, the pancreas produces a large amount of insulin, which in turn causes sugar levels to drop very quickly in blood. These rapid fluctuations in sugar levels are dangerous for the body, especially if they occur frequently. They can lead to the occurrence of such diseases like diabetes or insulin resistance. Unfortunately, people who eat it every day sweets, they rarely manage to deny themselves, even if they are aware health consequences. In such a situation, one can actually speak of addiction to sugar.
Addiction to sugar is not a disconnected concept reality. In the previous decade scientists from Princeton Neuroscience Institutes [1] by conducting studies on rats showed that frequent consumption sugar can trigger 2 symptoms of addiction:
- increasing the dose taken
- appearance of withdrawal symptoms addictive substances.
Moreover, further tests showed that to get another one sugar, the rodents were able to do harder and harder work. However, after sugar was withdrawn for a long time, rats more willingly reached for the sugar given to them alcohol and reacted more strongly to doses of amphetamines. The results of these tests showed that sugar can be addictive and that its overconsumption contributes to profound changes in the brain.
It is not the only test to prove addictive the effect of sugar. In the magazine Neuroscience & Biobehaviolar Reviews [2] the results of studies confirming the hypothesis that in some under the circumstances, rats may become addicted to sugar. The overuse of sugar leads because to neurochemical changes in the brain, the same that they also occur while taking drugs. These changes include, inter alia, changes in receptors dopamine and opioid.
Too human studies [3] [4] showed that sugar affects brain activity. In the experience of 12 men (obese or overweight) aged 18-35 were divided into 2 groups: the first group ate meals of Fr. high glycemic index, the other – low. Calorific value and distribution macronutrients were on the same level. Using the resonance method brain activity was assessed. In men who eat meals, Fr. high IG was noted:
- increase in venous plasma glucose
- increasing the feeling of hunger
- more brain activity – brain centers related to the reward were stimulated
It is known, however, that frequent stimulation of reward centers can lead to addiction [5]. According American Society of Medicine and Addiction, addiction is “Chronic disease of the reward system, motivation, memory and related areas of the brain “.
Podsumowując:
Frequent consumption of sweets can lead to addiction and to changes in the brain similar to those caused by drug use. As long as eating a sweet bar once in a while doesn’t hurt us much harm, the daily desire for sweets (and the inability to refuse them) is already a kind of nutritional pathology that needs to be dealt with.
In the next article, I will present methods of fighting addiction from sugar.
Bibliography:
1. http://www.livescience.com/3141-sugar-addictive-study-suggests.html
2.https: //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2235907/
3.https: //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3743729/
4. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/98/3/633.long
5. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0867436114700112
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