Sugar cravings and addictions

 

    Everybody experiences occasional sugar cravings. Sugar is present in a wide variety of foods and beverages. Picture a soft gooey cookie, a velvety cake, or a waffle cone packed with ice cream. You can also find sugar in savoury foods like tomato sauce, yogurt, bread, and nutrition bars. Excess sugar consumption can cause various health issues such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and many others. Sometimes it can be challenging to resist the temptation to eat a sweet treat. Several published research has found that sugar can be addictive. Sugar is a nutrient you frequently encounter, so it's sensible to understand its impact on our health.

Consumption of sugar gives us a good feeling. When you ingest sugar, your tongue's sweet taste receptors transmit signals to your brain stem. Many areas of the forebrain, known as the cerebral cortex, are triggered. The signal will then stimulate the reward system in the brain. The system is a network of electrical and chemical pathways across different brain sections. Once your reward system is activated, your brain will produce dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, a chemical that signals other cells to take specific actions. Dopamine plays an essential part in the reward system by uplifting your mood. So when you consume sugar, your brain releases a surge of dopamine. That is why you feel happy when eating foods high in sugar.

Our species' survival depended on sugar cravings. The purpose of this complex network is so that your subconscious can determine if you should repeat an action. If the brain decides the stimulus does not pose a threat and it is desirable and advantageous for our body, the brain will positively reinforce the stimulus. For instance, the satisfaction and enjoyment you experience after eating cake are due to your reward system reacting. During a pleasant stimulation, the brain produces dopamine, indicating it is safe for you to repeat the behaviour. Since sugar is an effective energy source, our brain has evolved to react and enforce the enjoyment of foods containing sugar so that we crave it.

It has been known for some time now that the brain will be more tolerant of continuous stimulations - this process is known as neuroplasticity. This helps the brain adjust to repeated stimuli because the brain learns to adapt and quickly respond. Tolerance is a person's diminished response to a stimulus. As you may expect, the frequent consumption of sugar results in the adaption of the brain to sugar, as discussed above. Hence, to experience the same rewarding sensation, you will need to consume frequently and higher amounts of sugar. Here is what happens: you crave sugar, so you eat it, which results in more cravings and more sugar consumption - this is referred to as positive reinforcement. If this cycle continues, it will eventually become an addiction. Participants were asked to score their desire for foods with a high sugar content when they were hungry versus when they had just eaten. Even when they weren't hungry, the people who habitually consumed a diet high in sugar reported having stronger food desires.

We've all given in to the temptation of a sweet treat at some point in our lives. Sometimes it can be challenging to resist the craving, but occasional treats are fine. When you consume sugar, your brain creates dopamine, which activates the reward system. Continuous sugar consumption can become an addiction, causing people to persist in consuming excess sugary foods. Sugar overconsumption is linked to a variety of health problems. A way to cut back on sugar is to do an activity you enjoy. You utilize your time doing something you like instead of relying on sugar to activate your reward system. That way, you get the same pleasant feeling and reduce your calorie intake.