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Study Finds Sugar Impacts The Brain In The Same Way As Drug Abuse

Consider this another reason to skip the sweet stuff. - by Lucy Bode
  • 21 Jan 2020

Not only is sugar as addictive as hard drugs, new research shows it also has a similar effect on the brain.

WATCH: Common fruits ranked by sugar content...

For the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, scientists analysed the CT scans of seven miniature pigs each day for 12 days after giving them two litres of a sugary liquid to drink. What they found was alarming, to say the least: the reward system in their brains (the same part that manages our feel-good neurotransmitters, e.g. dopamine and opioids) were stimulated “in a manner similar to that of drugs of abuse.” 

Over the course of the experiment, the sugar drastically lowered the “availability” of the pig’s opioid and dopamine receptors, effectively “dampening down” their response to these “rushes” of happy hormones. This reaction is also seen in the brains of humans who are addicted to cocaine, although the researchers weren’t expecting it to happen quite so quickly in this instance.

RELATED: 7 Tips To Kick Your Sugar Cravings For Good 

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"After just 12 days of sugar intake, we could see major changes in the brain's dopamine and opioid systems,” Michael Winterdahl, the study’s author and an associate professor at the Department of Clinical Medicine at Aarhus University in Denmark said in a statement. “In fact, the opioid system, which is that part of the brain's chemistry that is associated with well-being and pleasure, was already activated after the very first intake.”

Of course, the scientists can’t guarantee these results would be replicated in humans, but it does make a pretty compelling case as to why we should skip the sweet stuff.

"If sugar can change the brain's reward system after only twelve days, as we saw in the case of the pigs, you can imagine that natural stimuli such as learning or social interaction are pushed into the background and replaced by sugar and/or other 'artificial' stimuli,” Winterdahl added.

A good enough reason as any, we say.

RELATED: How Much Sugar Should We Be Eating Each Day?

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Lucy Bode
Lucy Bode
Lucy is Women Health’s digital editor, social media specialist and the go-to girl for all things holistic wellness. Her background as a journalist and passion for food, fitness and integrative medicine has led her to write for some of Australia’s leading publications over the course of her career.

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