SUGAR IS ADDICTIVE, LIKE COCAINE - AND USERS NEED HELP

Sugar is addictive, affecting the body in similar ways to hard drugs like cocaine and heroin - and users should be treated like addicts.

Researchers from Queensland University of Technology in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, found that drugs used to treat nicotine addiction could be effective in getting people to reduce their sugar intake.

Rob Waugh gathered that drugs such as varenicline - used to treat nicotine addiction - helped treat sugar addiction in animals.

‘The latest World Health figures tell us 1.9 billion people worldwide are overweight, with 600 million considered obese,’ said Professor Selena Bartlett who is based at the Translational Research Institute.

‘Excess sugar consumption has been proven to contribute directly to weight gain. It has also been shown to repeatedly elevate dopamine levels which control the brain’s reward and pleasure centres in a way that is similar to many drugs of abuse including tobacco, cocaine and morphine.

‘After long-term consumption, this leads to the opposite, a reduction in dopamine levels. This leads to higher consumption of sugar to get the same level of reward.

‘We have also found that as well as an increased risk of weight gain, animals that maintain high sugar consumption and binge eating into adulthood may also face neurological and psychiatric consequences affecting mood and motivation.’

‘Our study found that Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drugs like varenicline, a prescription medication trading as Champix which treats nicotine addiction, can work the same way when it comes to sugar cravings.’

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