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2008-12-15 -Short Attention Span Theater-
Sugar found as addictive as cocaine
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Posted by Fred 2008-12-15 00:00|| || Front Page|| [3 views ]  Top

#1 alcohol and nicotine are depressents. This implies that sugar may act as a depressent also. Curious.
Posted by Richard of Oregon 2008-12-15 08:39||   2008-12-15 08:39|| Front Page Top

#2 I think they are claiming it is a dopamine or endorphin type situation(?)

Hard to tell, it was written for the general public, so any information like that would be a total waste of printers ink.
Posted by bigjim-ky 2008-12-15 09:55||   2008-12-15 09:55|| Front Page Top

#3 I heard a doctor explain it as the endorphin cycle of highs and lows, inducing cravings, suggesting drugs working on the reward center of the brain may help with sugar cravings leading to obesity and diabetes. Sugar water is all some addicts in the pokey are given for heroin withdrawal symptoms.
Posted by Danielle 2008-12-15 10:55||   2008-12-15 10:55|| Front Page Top

#4 They must be planing on banning sugar water. Or maybe just taxing Soda. :(
Posted by Minister of funny walks 2008-12-15 11:29||   2008-12-15 11:29|| Front Page Top

#5 The Dread Tomato Addiction
Posted by trailing wife">trailing wife  2008-12-15 11:32||   2008-12-15 11:32|| Front Page Top

#6 Don't laugh, Minister, Drudge has an article about a proposed tax on sodas in NY.
Posted by Clinter Fillmore4231 2008-12-15 12:41||   2008-12-15 12:41|| Front Page Top

#7 There is a definite sugar craving effect. However, people don't go nuts and slaughter their family when doing a sugar binge either.

Like most things in life, sugar is best in moderation.
Posted by DarthVader 2008-12-15 12:45||   2008-12-15 12:45|| Front Page Top

#8 The weird thing is, when I was kid cocaine wasn't (physically) addictive. That was one of the shocks about crack cocaine -- it was addictive (and cheap too -- no longer a drug for Wall Street types only -- there was a great joke that cocaine was God's way of telling you that you make too damn much money).
Posted by Iblis 2008-12-15 14:23||   2008-12-15 14:23|| Front Page Top

#9 The Rantburg, it's just like candy!
Posted by Besoeker 2008-12-15 15:09||   2008-12-15 15:09|| Front Page Top

#10 when I was kid cocaine wasn't (physically) addictive.

Yes, it was, Iblis. It's just that only the rich could afford to buy it often enough to become so. Remember Richard Pryor? Nasal septum collapse requiring nose jobs? It's just that only the well-off could afford to use the stuff often enough to become -- and remain -- addicted. The question to which I've had no answer for lo these many yeasr is why crack cocain is so inexpensive.
Posted by trailing wife">trailing wife  2008-12-15 15:39||   2008-12-15 15:39|| Front Page Top

#11 Actually, tw, it's not. Crack is generally cheaper per dose, and it does hit your system faster, but based on, uh, shall we say "market conditions" (supply issues, arrests, and other hazards of the trade), cocaine can be less expensive per kilo.
Posted by Cornsilk Blondie 2008-12-15 17:00||   2008-12-15 17:00|| Front Page Top

#12 Crack is available in small dollar increments...

so the low income types can throw a $5 bill out and get a nice half hour high...

it gets expensive pretty quick, but they only see it as $5 until all the money is gone.

Posted by Abu do you love">Abu do you love  2008-12-15 17:01||   2008-12-15 17:01|| Front Page Top

#13 Back to sugar..

I did quit it about a year ago after realizing a borderline diabetes is creeping in. It was hard at first, but now I don't miss it. I still get enough carbs in my diet. Once a while I get something with sugar in a small dose, but it's great whiles in betweens. Yea, my health improved considerably.

Death to the white death! ;-)
Posted by Spike Uniter 2008-12-15 19:16||   2008-12-15 19:16|| Front Page Top

#14 Even worse than refined sugar is high fructose corn syrup. Ten years ago, very few vegetables and soups had high fructose corn syrup in them. Now it's almost impossible to buy canned goods without it. I have a reactive hypoglycemia problem, so I stay away from refined sugar. I've also had to drastically reduce my input of high fructose corn syrup. I haven't been able to reach a zero level yet, but it's less than 1% of what I eat on a daily basis. High fructose corn syrup is also addicting, creating a craving for more and more of it. Food processors know it, but don't have any desire to eliminate or even reduce the amount of it. High corn prices as the result of ethanol may change that.
Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot  2008-12-15 20:12|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]  2008-12-15 20:12|| Front Page Top

#15 you ever snort a line of Reese's? Messy
Posted by Frank G">Frank G  2008-12-15 21:26||   2008-12-15 21:26|| Front Page Top

#16 Thank you, Cornsilk Blondie and Abu Do You Love. There are so many things I don't know!

My freshman year of college (shortly after the Dark Ages, donchaknow) I experienced the full joy of messing with my blood sugar cycle. I couldn't afford the up-front charge for food service, so I pretty much lived on donuts and chocolate bars ($0.25 a piece) and Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup. Short term the sugar drop caused by eating something sugar-laden did drive me to seek another fix, but it really wasn't hard to quit when I went home for the summer and found real food in my parents refrigerator. Not to mention that even at those prices I couldn't afford many fixes per day while I waited for my weekly paycheck.
Posted by trailing wife">trailing wife  2008-12-15 21:36||   2008-12-15 21:36|| Front Page Top

#17 I'm with ya', OP - it's disgusting what they put HFCS in.

"Food processors know it, but don't have any desire to eliminate or even reduce the amount of it."

Arnold's has. They've got a line of really good bread products that have no HFCS in them - Arnold's even prints that fact on the wrappers. (Alas, not their rye bread - yet.)

I wrote them a effusive thank-you letter for doing it. I check labels religiously - there's no reason for HFCS to be in most of the products you find them in.

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut  2008-12-15 22:19|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/]  2008-12-15 22:19|| Front Page Top

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