A recent study confirmed dopamine receptors in the brain light up when sugar is consumed, similar to the receptors lighting up in the brain of someone who abuses alcohol.
This can encourage people who struggle with sweets to develop alcoholism. Alcohol-dependent individuals have a higher preference for sweets and experience sugar cravings and sugar withdrawals. The genes in parents who abuse alcohol, as well as their preference for sugar, can be passed down to their children. As a result, the child may have a predisposition to both of these compulsions. Many who eliminate sugar from their diet find themselves experiencing withdrawal symptoms of irritability, fogginess, moodiness, and low energy.
Since many struggling with sugar addiction have binged on sugary foods, withdrawal and cravings can be intense. Tragically, many choose to go back to eating sugary foods for the chemical release in the brain. A much better alternative is to do a dietary swap, whereby the sugar user exchanges unhealthy sweets for natural and healthy options to regain control.
Someone with a sugar addiction, especially if they have another substance abuse disorder or a co-occurring mental health condition , will likely have difficulty in ridding themselves of cravings. If you or someone you know has a sugar addiction, especially if complicating factors are present, please contact a treatment provider today to find out more about your options.
Krystina Murray has received a B. She enjoys traveling, fitness, crafting, and spreading awareness of addiction recovery to help people transform their lives. All of the information on this page has been reviewed and verified by a certified addiction professional. Her 37 years of experience and education are in addiction, recovery, and codependency. Addiction affects the entire system around the addict. There is no "bad guy" in the system. Fight the addiction, and help the addict.
I help loved ones restore sanity to their lives and hence encourage change. Recovery is possible! Call A treatment facility paid to have their center promoted here. Learn more about how to be featured in a paid listing. Calls to numbers on a specific treatment center listing will be routed to that treatment center. Chats will be received and answered by one of treatment providers listed below, each of which is a paid advertiser:. Sugar Addiction Although not generally considered as serious as many other addictions, sugar addiction can cause a number of severe health effects if corrective measures are not taken.
Start the road to recovery. Get a Call. Questions about treatment? Call now for: Access to top treatment centers Caring, supportive guidance Financial assistance options Finally, when people stop eating a diet rich in sugar, they've been shown to experience typical symptoms of drug withdrawal. Sugar withdrawal symptoms include fatigue, a headache, irritability, nervousness and feeling down or depressed.
Sugar withdrawal may also come with intense cravings, leading you to hop right back on the sweet train. So maybe now you've accepted that sugar addiction isn't a hoax, or even admitted that you have at least a small addiction to sugar I know I do -- but if it's so dangerously addictive, why are sugary foods so commonplace?
One reason that we eat so many sugary items is because of the global rise in sugar-rich fast food consumption. Not only is the fast food economy growing, but the portions are too -- an analysis of serving sizes at 10 popular US fast food restaurants showed that entrees, sides and desserts increased significantly in size and calories from to Almost all fast food meals , including everything from a cheeseburger to a Chipotle burrito bowl, contain a surprisingly high amount of sugar.
But even if you cook for yourself most of the time, it's still harder than you think to completely avoid sugar. For starters, food with added sugar is easy on the wallet -- one comprehensive study found that grains and sugar food groups were cheaper than vegetables and fruits per calorie. No matter where you shop -- at a 7-Eleven or Whole Foods -- almost all of the processed foods on the shelves contain added sugar.
Sugar is added to food for several different reasons , including the fact that it simply tastes good, and sweetened foods have an almost universal appeal. Sugar also preserves food, like jam and jelly, helps bread rise, acts as a bulking agent in baked goods and balances the acidity of food that contains tomato or vinegar -- like ketchup or BBQ sauce. So, even if you try to avoid obvious culprits such as donuts and ice cream, sugar is lurking in more of your staple groceries than you may think.
Foods often labeled "healthy" such as fruit-flavored yogurt, granola, dried fruit and canned soup all contain a significant amount of added sugar. Two hundred years ago , the average American ate two pounds of sugar per year -- today, we're up to pounds per year.
How did that much added sugar get into our diet in the first place? Unfortunately, American sugar addiction has less than sweet roots. Back in olden times, sugarcane was a labor-intensive crop that had to be cut by hand and immediately harvested for juices.
In , a New Orleans farmer figured out how to granulate the first sugar crystals, and it became a product that could last longer than just a few days before spoiling. Sugar plantations appeared on both sides of the Mississippi River, and thus the proliferation of the sweet stuff became just another marker of the United States' legacy of slave labor.
As you repeat that behavior more and more, your brain adjusts to release less dopamine. This is known as substance misuse.
And a Princeton study found that rats may become dependent on sugar, and that this dependency could be related to several aspects of addiction: cravings, binging, and withdrawal. Sugar is also much more prevalent, available, and socially acceptable than amphetamines or alcohol, and so harder to avoid.
But whether sugar is more addictive than cocaine, researchers and nutritionists suggest that sugar has addictive properties , and we need to be getting less of it. The organization says that doing so can lower the risk of becoming obese or overweight, or experiencing tooth decay.
On food labels, added sugars include words such as glucose, corn syrup, brown sugar, dextrose, maltose, and sucrose, as well as many others. In , WHO further suggested reducing free sugar daily intake to less than 5 percent of calories, about 6 teaspoons. Most of this comes from beverages , including energy drinks, alcoholic drinks, soda, fruit drinks, and sweetened coffee and teas. Other common sources are snacks. You can also find large quantities of added sugar in bread, salad dressing, granola bars, and even fat-free yogurt.
In fact, one survey found that high-calorie sweeteners are in over 95 percent of granola bars, cereals, and sugar-sweetened beverages, most often in the form of corn syrup, sorghum, and cane sugar. To help consumers, the Food and Drug Administration has developed a new food label that lists added sugars separately, which manufacturers are required to use though some smaller manufacturers have until to comply. It naturally comes in a container that produces a shorter blood sugar response and aids in fullness.
Reducing sugar, especially concentrated sugars, not only limits the amount of sugars ingested, but also makes less sweet foods seem sweeter.
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