Sugar

I did a spot of housework this morning: dusting, vacuuming.
Not that Sunday is a housework day for me but winter has
finally broken, and it was 14°C yesterday. Open that window!

So a lot of dust bunnies are gone ( in French, 'moutons de
poussière', thus 'dust sheep'). Whatever the image, the apartment
is much easier to breathe in.

Below, a HuffPost piece I will be translating toward English.
Is sugar truly addictive? Feels like, sometimes...

https://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/2019/04/10/dependance-sucre-mythe-realite_a_23709620/?utm_hp_ref=qc-homepage

source: Huffington Post, Bien-Être

author: Agence-Science Presse, 10/04/19

translator: doxa-louise

ADDICTED TO SUGAR, MYTH OR REALITY

Can sugar consumption create addiction, like cocaine or heroin?

Can sugar consumption create addiction, like cocaine or heroin? Where this theory is widely 

cited on the Internet, it remains controversial within the scientific community, reports our Rumor detector.

The Belief

The belief in question is that sugar creates an addiction as strong as cocaine, which would explain why it is so difficult to do without. We are dealing here with free sugar, thus excluding that which occurs naturally in foods such as fruit and milk.

This link between sugar and cocaine originated with many studies showing that rodents given access to both substances will tend to go for sugar when given a choice, and that mice whi eat sugar show symptoms of withdrawal.

Addiction,  yes or no?

A meta-analysis of some sixty studies published in 2017 by the British Journal of Sports Medicine came to the conclusion that indeed consuming sugar leads to effects similar to consuming cocaine, particularly because it altered mood. This no doubt, argued the researchers, because sugar brings pleasure and activates the reward system in the brain, which leads to looking for even more sugar.

However, part of the conclusion has come in for heavy criticism. Experts agree on the dangers of consuming sugar - tooth decay, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular illness - few are willing to call it an addictive drug.

According to Hisham Ziauddeen, a psychiatrist with Cambridge University who has published on the subject in 2016, studies on rodents actually show that rodents present behaviors reminiscent of addiction when they have access to sugar a mere two hours per day. The psychiatrist points out nonetheless that these same experiences show the same results with saccharine (a sugar substitute), which seems to suggest that ‘the attraction might be to the taste of sugar rather than to sugar itself’.

Moreover, the rodents will not seek sugar if one links its ingestion to a negative stimulus, such as an electric shock - which is not the case with cocaine. In other words, cocaine addiction is more powerful than sugar addiction, if need for the drug goes beyond fear of a negative stimulus.

An addiction, but of what kind?

In effect, addiction to sugar would be more like addiction to caffeine or nicotine than to addiction to cocaine or heroine, according to a literature review published in 2018 in Frontiers in Psychiatry. Certain experts refer to it as a ‘weak’ addiction, not to be confused with a true addiction, such as that to a medical drug. A conclusion similar to that reached in an overview of 52 studies on the concept of ‘food addiction’ in man and  animals in Nutrients in 2018. The results suggest that processed foods containing sugar substitutes and fats are those most potentially addictive and that the symptoms seem to resemble best those tied to substance abuse rather than behavioral disorder.

Serge Ahmed, research director at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Bordeaux, and author of many studies on sugar addiction, this addiction is well established. He recognizes nonetheless that one should not push the comparison between sugar and drugs. In his work, rats who had consumed cocaine for two weeks had the choice between a cocaine injection and a sweet drink at the strength of a cola. 

The verdict: the majority of rats went for the sweet drink. Yet, this preference does not prove that they have developed an addiction, tells us the researcher. To do that, one would need to show that regular use of sugar comes with phenomena linked to addiction such as tolerance, loss of control, withdrawal and relapse. For him, it is at most one indicator of addiction.

Michel Lucas, a researcher with CHU-Université Laval, as well finds the comparison of sugar to drugs too strong. ‘The rodents go for sweetened water, which might well be putting priority on survival because sugar brings them calories that are necessary to their functioning, which is not true for drugs.’ As expressed by the American endocrinologist robert Lustig, author of Sucre, l’amère vérité, sugar would then cause an addiction on the basis of its metabolic and hedonistic appeal (It tastes good!). A form of addiction he too would qualify as weak, comparable to nicotine, rather than that to medicinal drugs, such as addiction to heroin.

Finally, any clinical evaluation of sugar addiction would be complex, in part because it is rarely taken alone and it is difficult ot tell whether its consumption comes from an energy requirement or its gustatory aspect. Moreover, it is ethically impossible to research the addictive aspects of sugar and cocaine in humans in that one would have to administer drugs to some of the participants.

A habit, more than an addiction?

so why do we always come back to the word ‘addiction’ if there are different meanings attached. It is because sugar really does work on the reward system of the brain, liberating dopamine, and creates a sense a pleasure. An effect undeniably that produced by cocaine, heroin, alcohol, nicotine and cannabis.

Problem is, the more we consume pleasure-giving foods, such as sugar, the more our dopamine receptors weaken. One then needs more dopamine for the same level of pleasure. Hence, more sugar. Many see this as a form of acquired tolerance, which one can overcome by lowering our consumption level, than addiction, which provokes intoxication and withdrawal.

This is the reasoning used by nutritionist Catherine Lefebvre, author of Sucre:Vérités et conséquences (édition Édito, 2019), who speaks more readily of acquired tolerance than addiction, because consuming sugar does not seem to cause a sufficient state of intoxication to alter judgement, thought, or consciousness:

‘A liking for sweets is really a habit. When consulting, some will say they are addicts, but we are not dealing with addiction as with cocaine. People who eat less sugar do not show withdrawal or weaning symptoms.

The Verdict

Consuming added sugars creates a habit and we are prone to increase our daily dose in order to keep on finding the same level of pleasure. But debate around the word 'addiction’ makes the verdict more complicated. More studies are needed in order to establish beyond all doubt whether it is possible to become a sugar addict.  

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The Arnold meme - a great favourite in the fitness
community - does touch on an important question.
There is a difference between whether to eat the cookie
to begin with, and then whether to keep on eating it. Sugar
is the most refined food product we know, pure energy.
Consuming it quickly, or in large quantities, sets up the fly
and crash insulin response, with strong hunger signals. This
is where mindfull eating comes in: small bites, eating slowly,
conversation with friends. Otherwise, the 'out-of-control'
experience is very real...