Addiction to sugar: Interview with Dr Essoreke Tchaou, Nutritionist-Dietician
- Posted on 18/03/2024 09:26
- Film
- By abelozih@sante-education.tg
Extract from the article: Nutritionist and dietician Essoreke Tchaou insists that the abundance of products rich in added sugars exposes the body to a real risk of addiction. Is sugar as addictive as drugs? What happens in the brain when we consume it?
« Beware: sugar is as addictive as alcohol or cocaine »
Nutritionist
and dietician Essoreke Tchaou insists that the abundance of products rich in
added sugars exposes the body to a real risk of addiction. Is sugar as
addictive as drugs? What happens in the brain when we consume it?
Health-Education:
Is sugar addiction like a drug?
Dr
Essoreke Tchaou: Absolutely. It's important to remember that there are two
kinds of addiction, one involving substances and the other behavioural - such
as addiction to video games, compulsive shopping and so on. In both cases, the
central element is the loss of self-control, which needs to be identified on
the basis of a series of diagnostic criteria.
For
example, the compelling, irrepressible and intrusive desire to use a substance.
Or the desire or persistent efforts to stop or limit consumption - a criterion
that is very often present. Or the fact of consuming more than desired: for
example, with alcohol, it's the person who says they're going to have one or
two drinks, but ends up downing two or three bottles.To come back to sugar, we
tick off all these criteria.
Sugar
influences the brain's reward circuits in a similar way to that observed when
taking drugs. After just 12 days of sugar consumption, we can see major changes
in the brain's dopaminergic and opioid systems. In fact, the opioid system,
which is the part of the brain associated with well-being and pleasure, was
already activated after the first intake.
How
does sugar addiction differ from other types of addiction?
The
difference lies precisely in the diagnostic criteria: the more criteria there
are, the more pronounced the addiction.An addiction is considered mild when it
meets two or three criteria, moderate when it meets four or five criteria, and
severe when it meets six or more criteria.In the case of sugar, as with alcohol
and tobacco, the majority of people affected have a moderate addiction. The
question of withdrawal is an important one: going without sugar is incomparable
with withdrawal from alcohol or opiates, but this can vary from one individual
to another.
Above
all, our studies and many others have shown and warned that sugar has the same
addictive potential as the most addictive drugs in humans, including alcohol,
cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.We now know that chronic and prolonged
consumption of sugar, like other drugs, leads to lasting biological changes in
the brain.
How
did we realise that sugar was a problem substance?
The
difference lies precisely in the diagnostic criteria: the more criteria there
are, the more pronounced the consumption of sugar, like other drugs, leads to
lasting biological changes in the braindependence. An addiction is considered
mild when it meets two or three criteria, moderate when it meets four or five
criteria, and severe when it meets six or more criteria.
In
the case of sugar, as with alcohol and tobacco, the majority of people affected
have a moderate addiction.The question of withdrawal is an important one: going
without sugar is incomparable with withdrawal from alcohol or opiates, but this
can vary from one individual to another.
Above
all, our studies and many others have shown and warned that sugar has the same
addictive potential as the most addictive drugs in humans, including alcohol,
cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. We now know that chronic and prolonged
consumption of sugar, like other drugs, leads to lasting biological changes in
the brain.
Awareness
of the problem dates back a little over a decade.We realised that the obesity
epidemic was linked to a radical change in the food environment, with an
abundance of industrial products rich in added sugars, including soft drinks.It
was then suspected that some of those who over-consume sugar were losing their
addictive control. There are several possible explanations.
In
nature, where our species evolved, we find fruits that contain little sugar,
whereas industry makes it possible to manufacture highly concentrated products.
Our bodies are not prepared for these high doses, and a parallel can be drawn
with the emergence of alcoholism, which dates from the invention of strong
alcohols, or cocaine addiction, which did not exist when coca leaves were
consumed.
What's
more, our bodies are not capable of optimally metabolising sugar in liquid
form, the kind found in food industry products. Finally, there is no such thing
as "fat and sugar" in nature. A neuroimaging study has just shown
that sugar combined with fat amplifies the activation signal of the reward
circuit in our brain.
Interview
by Abel OZIH