As our western diet quality continues to fall and obesity rates continually climb, there has been an idea raised that food addiction, or in particular ‘sugar addiction’ is the cause or influential. Despite that sugar addiction as a concept remains difficult to assess for numerous reasons, it is becoming a very popular and powerful idea. The question is, is there merit to this concept or are we just finding excuses for our poor food choices?
There is no doubt that the topic of sugar is an emotional one. It features in public debates, advice, food tax changes, nutrition guidelines, anecdotal information, addiction topics, public health concerns and much more. So, there are no surprises of this idea of ‘sugar addiction’ being the root of some major health concerns, however, let’s look at where the parallels are between sugar and drug addiction in the research. It is important to note that the idea of food addiction materialised in the diet industry and on the basis of subjective reports, individual accounts and case studies. Regarding sugar addiction, there is limited high quality research and majority of available studies have only been done in animals where human application can only be assumed.
What the animal data has shown is that there is an overlap in behaviours related to sugar consumption and drug addiction. Behaviours such as bingeing, craving, tolerance, and withdrawal are all overlapping similarities between the two. The sugar and food itself are not like a substance of abuse, however these behaviours, such as bingeing and deprivation can change the way we act, respond, and behave towards eating sugar. So, we can say that sugar may be addictive for some individuals when consumed in a ‘binge-like’ manner. These individuals who consume foods in this manner may develop an unhealthy dependence on these palatable foods which mimics behaviour and potentially some neurochemical changes that resemble effects of drug addiction.
The literature assessing for any evidence for sugar addiction is very limited as mentioned and far from convincing. The general population often report food cravings, however even subjectively these reports are different from drug addictions in terms of frequency and intensity and are much more short-lived and can subside with fasting, as opposed to reporting towards drug addiction which do not subside with fasting and tend to be of stronger nature. This is not to say that sugar does not induce reward and craving behaviours comparable, where people may have difficulty controlling their consumption of high sugar foods, it is merely stating it is more likely the result of behaviours as opposed to a neurochemical cause.
A final note on this topic is that the current comparable measures between drug addiction and sugar addiction are extremely difficult to assess. The responses are individualised, subjective and a direct comparison cannot be made. Most research is in animals only and discusses behaviours more than chemical responses. It seems apparent that disordered eating and food intake patterns is a more likely result of ‘sugar addiction’ than biochemical reasoning.
Information sources
https://journals.lww.com/co-clinicalnutrition/Abstract/2013/07000/Sugar_addiction__pushing_the_drug_sugar_analogy_to.11.aspx
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2235907/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17617461/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5174153/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28835408/
