Hooked on sugar? Experts say addiction is possible

Who hasn’t been in a relationship we know is bad for us, but one we just can’t quit? For many people, it’s like that with sugar. Breaking up is hard to do. “People generally know that sugar isn’t good, but they don’t appreciate how powerfully negative it really is,” says Donald Hensrud, medical director of the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program. “If you look at all the things in our diet we can change, pulling away from refined or added sugar will do more good than anything else.”

Nutritional experts don’t suggest that you abandon the sugar that occurs naturally in fresh and frozen fruit. Rather, they’re talking about the stuff that you add to cookie dough or sprinkle onto your morning oatmeal. Sugar has many forms (high-fructose corn syrup, maltose, dextrose, maple syrup, brown sugar, molasses, raw sugar and honey, among others), but it’s still sugar. Manufacturers put it in countless processed foods, including soda, packaged cereals, ice cream, pastries, candy, flavored yogurt, granola bars and dried fruits. It’s also added to such products as salad dressings, ketchup and pasta sauces.

Eating too much sugar contributes to numerous health problems, including weight gain, Type 2 diabetes, dental caries, metabolic syndrome and heart disease, and even indirectly to cancer because of certain cancers’ relationship to obesity. It also can keep you from consuming healthier things. “Kids who are drinking sugar-sweetened beverages aren’t drinking milk,” Hensrud says.

Animal studies have shown that sugar releases opioids and dopamine in the brain, which suggests that sugar dependence is real. “Consuming large amounts of added sugar activates the reward center and makes us want to eat that food again,” Maryland dietitian Jessica Murgueytio says. When this happens, “you can have increased cravings for sugar, feel a lack of control when around sugar, and also increased tolerance for sugar, which causes one to eat more to feel the same impact.”