Intense Sweetness Surpasses Cocaine Reward

from (http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0000698)

where they state in part:

Conclusions

“Our findings clearly demonstrate that intense sweetness can surpass cocaine reward, even in drug-sensitized and -addicted individuals. We speculate that the addictive potential of intense sweetness results from an inborn hypersensitivity to sweet tastants. In most mammals, including rats and humans, sweet receptors evolved in ancestral environments poor in sugars and are thus not adapted to high concentrations of sweet tastants. The supranormal stimulation of these receptors by sugar-rich diets, such as those now widely available in modern societies, would generate a supranormal reward signal in the brain, with the potential to override self-control mechanisms and thus to lead to addiction.”

[-] Sources and References

• ¹ Psych Central June 29, 2013
• ² Science Daily June 26, 2013
• ³ American Journal of Clinical Nutrition September 2013 [Epub ahead of print]
• ⁴ NPR.com June 26, 2013
• ⁵ New York Times February 20, 2013
• ⁶ Time magazine March 1, 2013
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• ⁱ The New York Times April 17, 2011
• ⁱⁱ Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD)
• ⁱⁱⁱ The Epoch Times April 19, 2011
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