Is Sugar a Drug?

When a person does cocaine it creates a surge of pleasure molecules in the brain, including serotonin and dopamine, or decreases their inactivation. Stay with us, here. It both creates a rush of molecules and blocks their degradation—two things that boost their effects. These cause a pleasure rush in you, at least until your brain receptors get used to it. Many get addicted to this rush and seek out the drug whenever, wherever they can. You would then seek more to overcome your brain receptors getting to use to the rush. Cocaine is not the only substance that does this. And, no, we're not talking about other hard drugs. We're talking about something you've probably put into your body already today: simple sugars and their equivalent, simple or added syrups.

Eating sugar makes you feel good by stimulating the release of serotonin and dopamine in your brain and the reduction in their degradation. But when it wears off, you crash and may go on the hunt for another sweet fix—your brain's receptors demand more. Sound familiar?

Not everyone has an insatiable sweet tooth, and scientists are studying animal models to determine what makes some people more susceptible to sugar addiction. They believe that a tendency toward getting hooked on the sweet stuff could help explain why obesity is on the rise worldwide. With snack cakes, candy bars, sodas and cookies constantly at our fingertips, we can all benefit from being aware of the slippery high-fructose-corn-syrup-slicked slope.

Check out the slideshow above to find out three ways to monitor and control your sugar intake.

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