The Star Tribune ran an article today titled, "Some foods as addictive as cocaine?" It proceeds to say that a growing body of medical research at leading universities and governmental laboratories suggest that processed foods and sugary drinks hijack the brain in the same ways that resemble addictions to cocaine, nicotine and other drugs. According to Nora Volkow, (Director of National Institute on Drug Abuse) "we are finding tremendous overlap between drugs in the brain and food in the brain".
The article continues .... Brain scans of obese people and compulsive eaters, meanwhile, reveal disturbance in brain reward circuits similar to those experienced by drug abusers.
Yes, it makes sense that food and cocaine both work in the reward system and trigger the mesolimbic dopamine system. But I find it hard to believe that a cupcake can create as powerful of a dopamine surge as cocaine or methamphetamine.
Anyone else care to comment?
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