Added sugar in foods and beverages - used to make these products more addictive? None of this sugar is needed nutritionally - there is plenty of sugar in natural products (such as fruits).
MEDICAL JOURNAL ARTICLES ON SUGAR AND ADDICTION
The addicted brain: How processed foods hijack reward pathways
- Pharmacology Research, Feb 2026
About sugar addiction - sugar addiction is an increasingly prevalent problem involving multiple aspects of the nervous system, behavior, and health.
- Brain & Behavior, Jul 2025
The interdependence between (addictive) sugar-sweetened beverage and (addictive) cigarette consumption from China
- PloS One, Jan 2025
Whole-brain tracking of cocaine and sugar rewards processing
- Transl Psychiatry, Jan 2023
Foods and nutritional characteristics associated with addictive-like eating
- Psychology Report, Aug 2022
Sugars and sweet taste: addictive or rewarding?
- Int J Environ Res Public Health, Sep 2021
N-acetylcysteine reduces addiction-like behaviour towards high-fat high-sugar food in diet-induced obese rats
- European J. Neuroscience, Aug 2021
Sugar, a powerful substitute for ethanol in ethanol postdependent rats: Relevance for clinical consideration?
- Addictive Biology, Jul 2021
Association between mobile phone addiction index and sugar-sweetened food intake in medical college students stratified by sex from Shanghai, China
- Nutrients, Jun 2021
Associations between opioid dependence and sweet taste preference
- Psychopharmacology (Berl), Jun 2021
I was truly addicted to sugar: A consumer-focused classification system of behaviour change strategies for sugar reduction
- Appetite, Jan 2020
Excessive consumption of sugar: an insatiable drive for reward
- Curr Nutr Rep, Jun 2019
Increasing chocolate's sugar content enhances its psychoactive effects and intake
- Nutrients, Mar 2019
Potentially addictive properties of sugar-sweetened beverages among adolescents
- Appetite, Feb 2019
Sugar addiction: is it real? A narrative review.
In both animals and humans, the evidence in the literature shows substantial parallels and overlap between drugs of abuse and sugar, from the standpoint of brain neurochemistry as well as behaviour.
- British J. Sports Medicine, Jul 2018
Calorie intake and gambling: is fat and sugar consumption 'impulsive'?
- J. Gambling Studies, Sep 2017
Behavioral sensitization of the reinforcing value of food: What food and drugs have in common
- Preventive Medicine, Nov 2016
"Eating addiction", rather than "food addiction", better captures addictive-like eating behavior
- Neurosci Biobehav Rev, Nov 2014
The emerging neurobiology of calorie addiction
- ELife, 2014
Sugar addiction: pushing the drug-sugar analogy to the limit
- Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care, Jul 2013
The obesity epidemic and food addiction: clinical similarities to drug dependence
- J Psychoactive Drugs, Jan-Mar 2012
Is fast food addictive?
The majority of fast food meals are accompanied by a soda, which increases the sugar content 10-fold.
- Curr Drug Abuse Rev, Sep 2011
The plausibility of sugar addiction and its role in obesity and eating disorders
- Clinical Nutrition, Jun 2010
Sweet preference, sugar addiction and the familial history of alcohol dependence: shared neural pathways and genes
- J Psychoactive Drugs, Jun 2010
Sugar, ethics and leglisation
Sugar is both addictive and toxic, although it is a very mild, very slow-working poison
- J. Law and Medicine, May 2010
Sugar and fat bingeing have notable differences in addictive-like behavior
- J. Nutrition, Mar 2009
Evidence for sugar addiction: behavioral and neurochemical effects of intermittent, excessive sugar intake
- Neurosci Biobehav Review, 2008
Examining the addictive-like properties of binge eating using an animal model of sugar dependence
- Exp Clin Psychopharmacology, Oct 2007
Intense sweetness surpasses cocaine reward
- PLoS One, Augu 2007
Implications of an animal model of sugar addiction, withdrawal and relapse for human health
- Nutrition and Neuroscience, Oct-Dec 2005
Evidence that intermittent, excessive sugar intake causes endogenous opioid dependence
- Obesity Research, Jun 2002
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