That question is all over the news lately, as researchers from the University of California-San Francisco are arguing that added sugar in food should be regulated by the government, like alcohol or drugs.
In the journal Nature, they write that overconsumption of sugar leads to a variety of diseases, including diabetes and high blood pressure. What’s more, the more sugar you eat, the more your brain craves it, the scientists say.
Most people would disagree that sugar and its sweet counterpart, high-fructose corn syrup, should be controlled substances. Yet we certainly eat too much – and there’s evidence that they are habit-forming.
In her Lifescript article Are You Addicted to Food?, journalist Norine Dworkin-McDaniel cites research showing that sugary junk foods trigger cascades of chemicals such as dopamine, which affect the brain’s “reward” system.
Some scientists compare that to your brain on drugs: “With drug abuse, dopamine stays elevated, so you continue to want more,” a Yale University food addiction researcher tells Dworkin-McDaniel. “We see the same continuous dopamine spiking when people binge on sugary foods.”
(If you think you may be a food addict, read the article for ways to find out.)
Meanwhile, you’re probably eating more sugar than you know – even if you avoid too many obviously sweet treats. While researching Sweet Sabotage: Uncovering Hidden Added Sugars, Lifescript’s Food Detective Diane Wedner found plenty of it in products ranging from peanut butter and ketchup to diet frozen dinners and “healthy” cereals.
If you want to know how many grams of sugars there are in packaged foods, you’ll find them listed on the Nutrition Label underneath “Total Carbohydrate.” (Keep in mind that’s for a given serving size, not necessarily the amount you’ll actually eat.) Multiply by 4 to get the number of sugar calories you’re consuming.
Of course, there’s natural sugar in lots of everyday foods, including fruit and milk. But if you reduce the amount of added sugars you consume, you probably won’t miss them.
It’s about the easiest way there is to cut down on empty calories – and it could keep you healthier, too.