In my recent studies I have seen sugar compared to alcohol. The author of a book that has recently gotten TONS of media attention (I've heard interviews with the author on two different radio programs, mention of it on TV, multiple references in my radio searches and one magazine review.) Compares it to any other addictive substance:
Robert Lustig: Here’s the problem. There’s an area of your brain called the reward center, everybody’s heard of it because you know drug addiction.
Interviewer: Cocaine addiction.
Robert Lustig: Cocaine, morphine, heroine, nicotine. They all work in the same place. And the neurotransmitter that signal pleasures called dopamine. You’ve probably heard of it.
Interviewer: Of course.
Robert Lustig: Dopamine. When you get a dopamine rush you get pleasure and sugar does it the same way as all of those drugs of abuse. The problem is when you get that pleasure; you down regulate the little proteins that catch the dopamine called dopamine receptors. And the more you down regulate ‘em the more dopamine you need to get the same effect. And that’s called tolerance. And then when you take the stuff away, then there’s no dopamine to interact with these few proteins left and that’s called withdrawal; tolerance and withdrawal, that’s called addiction. So we know how that works for all of these other drugs of abuse, it turns out sugar does the same thing.
Interviewer: Same thing. It’s the same as cocaine.
Robert Lustig: The difference is that for cocaine you gotta go find it whereas for sugar we have what we call system saturation.
Interviewern: Right.
Robert Lustig: It’s everywhere, you can’t escape it.
Me: You can't escape it! Sugar is Everywhere! I plan on reading this book. I have it on hold at the library but because of all the publicity it's a long wait. I may break down and buy it. And my kitchen is still a mess.
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