If you’re feeling a serious sugar high after that doughnut, you’re not imagining things.
Eating sugar gives you a ‘hit’ like doing hard drugs, a new study suggests.
Just one dose of sugar activates the brain’s opioid system, researchers found, and prolonged consumption of sugar causes major changes in the release of dopamine.
Researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark fed pigs sugar water and then examined their brains over the course of 12 days.
They found that sugar caused dramatic changes in the brain’s dopamine and opioid systems, similar to the effects of taking addictive drugs.
Dr Michael Winterdahl said: ‘There is no doubt that sugar has several physiological effects, and there are many reasons why it is not healthy.
‘The conclusion is clear. Sugar influences brain reward circuitry in ways similar to those observed when addictive drugs are consumed.
‘After just 12 days of sugar intake, we could see major changes in the brain’s dopamine and opioid systems.
‘In fact, the opioid system, which is that part of the brain’s chemistry that is associated with wellbeing and pleasure, was already activated after the very first intake.’
The seven miniature pigs drank two litres of sugar water every day over 12 days and researchers imaged their brains at the beginning of the experiment, after the first day and after the last day.
Pigs were used as their brains are more complex and large enough for the use of human brain scanners, but of course more research will be needed to check the same effects are present in humans.
Sugar’s impact on the dopamine and opioid system is concerning because this could mean it messes with our brain’s natural reward system, which releases dopamine and opioids when we’re experiencing something joy-inducing or meaningful.
Problems with the brain’s production of dopamine have been linked to depression and Parkinson’s disease.
Dr Winterdahl said: ‘If sugar can change the brain’s reward system after only 12 days, as we saw in the case of the miniature 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.
‘We’re all looking for the rush from dopamine, and if something gives us a better or bigger kick, then that’s what we choose.’
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/16/eating-sugar-gives-hit-like-hard-drugs-study-suggests-12066343/
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