Have you ever considered sugar as a drug?

Have you ever considered sugar to be a drug or that sugar could be as addictive as cocaine? We suppose that's why it's called a sugar high! But it does bring to light an interesting topic - how do we view sugar?

In what way do we use sugar as an incentive for children, as a reward for achievement, as comfort food or pretty much any other reason. Do we really know how much sugar we are ingesting or what types of sugars they are? Beyond this are we aware of the impacts sugar has on behaviours - by this we mean, to what extent is our sugar intake habitual. Healthline delves into the topic even more so, by comparing the addiction we might have to sugar as addictive as the drug cocaine. The article goes on to first define addiction:

“Addiction is a strong word, says Dr. Alan Greene...In medicine, we use ‘addiction’ to describe a tragic situation where someone’s brain chemistry has been altered to compel them to repeat a substance or activity despite harmful consequences."

Are you curious to know what chemical reactions sugar has on our bodies, and therefore our behaviours? We thought so! The article goes on to say, "eating sugar releases opioids and dopamine in our bodies. This is the link between added sugar and addictive behavior...Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is a key part of the “reward circuit” associated with addictive behaviour. When a certain behavior causes an excess release of dopamine, you feel a pleasurable “high” that you are inclined to re-experience, and so repeat the behaviour". 

What makes this process so addictive is that when you repeat this behaviour, your brain adjusts to release less dopamine, meaning you need more sugar to feel that same 'high'. The article continues with many more findings and clarifications and is a very interesting read - give the full article a read in the link below.

All credit for this article goes to Healthline and the original source can be found here.