Well, in order to answer this question, we need to understand what constitutes a drug and addiction. By determining what the common definition of a drug and what addiction is, we can closer look at the similarities between sugar and other drugs.
Wikipedia defines a drug as: Any substance that when inhaled, injected, smoked, consumed, absorbed via a patch on the skin, or dissolved under the tongue (which) causes a temporary physiological (and often psychological) change in the body.
In my more simplified definition, a drug is anything that is taken into the body that alters your state of mind or changes something in your body. That is why all medications are considered drugs, because they will reduce pain, reduce inflammation, or a whole slew of other changes within the body. While some drugs are over the counter like Tylenol, most are considered to be dangerous enough that if taken improperly could cause a lot of medical issues, hospitalization, or possibly death. That is why doctors are the only way we can get these more potent and dangerous medications. There is a lot of risk with correct dosage and with combining multiple prescriptions depending on the medicine (drug).
The illegal drugs are more known to have an effect on your brain. They will alter your brain chemistry such that the drugs will illicit a pleasurable response (which is also why they are so addictive). The body’s reaction to these drugs have been determined to change your physiological state to the point that they can be dangerous to the user (and sometimes those around them). Some of these illegal drugs are also used in the medical field, but are highly regulated.
Alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine are probably the most common drugs that are used/consumed daily in America. Every time I go to the gas station, I see people lined up to buy their energy drinks and tobacco. While these are common drugs, don’t make the mistake thinking that they are harmless. Most states are cracking down on drunk driving and the taxes on tobacco have increased to the point that it is forcing people to quit. There has been talk of restricting energy drinks (due to unhealthy amounts of caffeine), but no legislation has passed to my knowledge.
Wikipedia defines addiction as: is a brain disorder characterized by compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli despite adverse consequences. Despite the involvement of a number of psychosocial factors, a biological process – one which is induced by repeated exposure to an addictive stimulus – is the core pathology that drives the development and maintenance of an addiction.
So what about sugar. Lets take a closer look to see if we can find some similarities that would allow us to determine if sugar is a drug and if it is addictive.
To begin with, let us see what happens to your brain when you consume sugar. One of the big effects of sugar would be the production of dopamine in the brain. That means that every time you consume large amounts of sugar, your brain actually tells you that it’s happy due to the released dopamine. The sugar is tricking our brains into producing the dopamine as “reward” for doing something that our body “needed”. To put it simply, when we consume sugar we feel good. So, sugar does have a physiological affect on our mood.
Here is a study from 2011 that shows that junk food will have a similar physiological response when compared to other drugs. To overly simplify the study, it showed that if we eat certain foods (sugary) that they can be addictive. Here is another study that tested to see if Oreos are as addictive as cocaine. Surprisingly, yes they are!
If you keep repeating the same process in order to get the same high, that is known as substance abuse. So if you continue to eat/drink the same sugary foods, is that a form of substance abuse? Can we abuse sugar?
So sugary foods have addictive properties to them. That does not necessarily mean that you will be addicted to sugar. It will increase the chances though. That is why we get a craving for your favorite dessert or a soda. It is not because our body needs the sugar or that it has any nutritional value for our bodies. We just want it because it sounds good and we know that we will feel better after consuming it. The desire for sugar comes from the brain, not your stomach.
There are a lot of factors that will determine if you are addicted to a substance. For example, the intensity of the rush or high, how quickly you get that rush or high and how long you keep the high.
Now lets think about when you consume your favorite soda. Usually within a few minutes you can start to feel the sugar “working”. It most likely is a combination of the sugar and the caffeine, but you notice the difference within minutes. Depending on how large of a soda you drank and how well your body creates insulin will effect how much of a response you will get from it. So for a short while you will have a sugar “high” and after a while you will have the sugar “crash”. Hmm, that sounds similar to the reaction of people that use illegal drugs.
So, if you are following where I am going, sugar is a drug that can give us energy, makes us feel good, and can be consumed in all of these wonderful foods, and is completely legal. It does sound good until you look at the long list of side effects that come with it. If you want to see some of the side effects, check out my blog 25 reasons not to eat sugar.
You make your own opinion as to whether eating sugary foods is more important than cutting it out of your diet. The purpose of this blog is simply to give you more information so you can make an educated decision.
Here is a thought to all of you parents out there. Try to put your children on a low sugar, low carbohydrate, high fat diet for 30 days. See if their behavior changes. I would almost bet that you will have less temper tantrums and a calmer more enjoyable child. I cant say for certain, but what do you have to lose by trying it for 30 days. I am a firm believer that sugar makes our children much more challenging than they need to be.
In my opinion, part of the ADHD epidemic that is plaguing our country is directly correlated with sugar and poor diets. I am not saying that all ADHD cases are a result of too much sugar, I am simply saying that I believe that sugar is making the ADHD worse. Why would you give your child that has ADHD (or similar problem) sugar, when you know that it will create a burst of energy which will reduce the child’s ability to concentrate. As adults, I think we have a responsibility to improve the lives of children. If taking sugar out of their diets will improve their concentration, improve grades, keep them from getting into trouble, why aren’t we?
Even many of the things that we think are healthy like apple or grape juice is loaded with sugar. I know a lot of parents are giving their kids juice because it is simple, “healthy”, and the kid will drink it. But, what if you are setting the stage for diabetes? Most healthy children will have no problem processing a glass or two of juice. But what happens when you add in Chinese food and ice cream? If we are forcing our bodies to produce a lot of insulin all the time, it may eventually stop working. Just think about how many people you know that have type 2 diabetes, and now think that you can greatly reduce that risk for your children by reducing or removing sugar from their diets.
