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Study finds that intense sweetness more addictive than Cocaine

uhh, if anything, all this study concludes is that using rats is a bad model for drug seeking behavior in humans. any person who has tried eating sucrose, sacharrin and cocaine can tell you that cocaine is much more reinforcing/addicting. to suggest that sweetness is more addictive than cocaine is to be willfully obtuse IMO.
 
stirfry said:
uhh, if anything, all this study concludes is that using rats is a bad model for drug seeking behavior in humans. any person who has tried eating sucrose, sacharrin and cocaine can tell you that cocaine is much more reinforcing/addicting. to suggest that sweetness is more addictive than cocaine is to be willfully obtuse IMO.
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QFT... the comparison is absurd.

P.S. that must be one of the wordier research articles around, LOL. Hard to believe so much spouting can say so little of worth :p.
 
thnx for the link, sounds interesting, I'm about to read abstract...
anyway, my cancer research prof. was saying this a few weeks ago, well not about cocaine but that we're addicted to sugar (we were going in depth on glycolysis etc)
 
In my opinion this study doesn't sound completely unreasonable. Our dopamine system is, in part at least, used to reward us when we eat. I don't think we would see so many dangerously obese persons if it weren't for the possibility of food being very addictive to some people.

Seen from an evolutionary point of view, a greater lust for sugar than cocaine would certainly be an advantage. Lack of the latter would probably leave you craving but lack of the former could kill you.
 
redeemer said:
In my opinion this study doesn't sound completely unreasonable. Our dopamine system is, in part at least, used to reward us when we eat. I don't think we would see so many dangerously obese persons if it weren't for the possibility of food being very addictive to some people.
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There may be some truth to that, but the article claims that a sweet *taste* (they used saccharine) is more addictive than cocaine. In other words, a strong sensation of sweetness is more addictive than a drug (given intravenously, no less) which directly and potently inhibits dopamine reuptake, not to mention serotonin and norepinephrine.

Hope you can see how this is obviously complete rubbish, particularly in humans... in terms of saccharine, people tend not to even LIKE it. IV coke vs. Sweet-n-low... LOL.

P.S. I'm an open minded person who doesn't normally think along these lines, but am tempted to say "only in France" to this one... 8).
 
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If this were true, there could be some really cool threads out there, imagine...

"I'm trying to figure out what I want to get to party with this weekend... So, i'm choosing between MDMA, Heroin and Sugar. What's your favorite?"

"Help, I found a packet of Sweet-N-Low in my sons bag. He's such a good boy, is there any chance he's not using?? How should I talk to him about the dangers of being a junk-foodie?"

"I know everyone looks down on people using sugar, and quite a few of my friends have gotten hooked, so I know the dangers of getting fat, but I'm really interested in trying it just once. So, here goes: a. What's the best way to use it? b. What brand do you use? My friend who's a really junkie always gets the blue-green stamps, but my dealer was selling some pink ones- are they just as good?"

"I got some sugar on sunday, but it's clear this stuff is cut. It's sweet for the first few seconds, but then it numbs my tongue and I get really hyper. I think some jackass stepped on my sugar and cut it with coke. What's the best way to remove coke from my sweets? Is it better to use an acid-base tek, or is there a better way?"
 
Ximot said:
refined sugar is definitely highly addictive
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HIGHLY addictive, eh... it's hard to believe any BL'er would be saying this, but maybe it does affect you that way... dunno. I have a strong 'sweet tooth' myself, but have never woken up in the middle of the night covered in sweat, jonesing for a twinkie. Also, I find if I eat lots of complex carbohydrates + protein, this "addiction" to refined sugar vanishes, which wouldn't be the case if it were something specific to refined sugar.
 
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They are comparing a small dose of cocaine every ten minutes to 20 seconds of drinking saccharin solution every ten minutes. Given the choice between a small, unsatisfying, and occasional bump of coke and a 20 seconds of drinking a nice smoothie, I'd probably prefer the smoothie. It would still be stupid to say that Jamba Juice is more addictive than cocaine.

If the rats are freely choosing saccharin over cocaine (even without food/water restriction), that's evidence that you aren't modeling addiction, not evidence that saccharin is more addictive than cocaine.

Addiction is, by definition, using a drug despite adverse consequences. You haven't given the rats any reason NOT to use cocaine. They sit in a cage all day with food, water, and nothing else to do.

(edited for typo)
 
^^ There's no such objective definition, but thanks for letting us know how you personally define addiction :p.
inverse_agonist said:
If the rats are freely choosing saccharin over cocaine (even without food/water restriction), that's evidence that you aren't modeling addiction, not evidence that saccharin is more addictive than cocaine.
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QFT
 
MDPVagrant- are you saying that there's no objective definition of addiction, or that Adrenochrome's definition only exists in his head?

Because I'm pretty sure inverse_agonist's definition of addiction is almost straight out of the DSM
 
Ham-milton said:
MDPVagrant- are you saying that there's no objective definition of addiction, or that Adrenochrome's definition only exists in his head?

Because I'm pretty sure inverse_agonist's definition of addiction is almost straight out of the DSM
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*shrug* the DSM is an entirely consensus-based code of criteria - and consensus of psychiatrists of all people - the least relevant of so-called "medical professionals".

From my point of view, citing something from the DSM makes it lose credibility.
 
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