A small new study suggests the
brain responds to Oreo cookies quite like it responds to actual drugs –
at least if you’re a rat. The “pleasure center” of the brain, the
nucleus accumbens, apparently gets just as activated in response to
Oreos as it does to cocaine and morphine, which could actually have some
major public health implications. While the study was done in rats, the
authors say it’s likely relevant to humans as well, and could explain
why people have such a hard time resisting eating an entire sleeve of
the cookies. The study, which will be presented at the Society for
Neuroscience’s annual conference next month, also made another
discovery: Rats, like humans, like to eat Oreo’s creamy center first.
To test how the animals responded to Oreos vs. drugs, the team
trained rats to navigate a maze. On one side, Oreo cookies were
provided, and on the other side plain rice cakes were offered. As you’d
guess, the rats were significantly more likely to spend time on the Oreo
side of the maze. The team also compared these results to rats who were
trained with morphine or cocaine rather than Oreos. They found that
regardless of what “substance” the rats were offered (Oreos, cocaine, or
morphine) they spent about the same amount of time on the “drug” side
of the maze.
These behavioral data aren’t so surprising, but the
researchers also reported some interesting neurological results. When
rats were given Oreos, a protein called c-Fos was expressed strongly in
an area of the brain called the nucleus accumbens, which is well known
to be active in pleasure and addiction.
“It basically tells us how many cells were turned on in a specific
region of the brain in response to the drugs or Oreos,” said Connecticut
College professor Joseph Schroeder, who led the research. Oreos
actually activated cells in this brain area more than did
either cocaine or morphine, which suggests that that magical combination
of sugar and fat may be even more delectable to our brains than drugs.
“Our research supports the theory that high-fat/high-sugar foods
stimulate the brain in the same way that drugs do,” Schroeder said. “It
may explain why some people can’t resist these foods despite the fact
that they know they are bad for them.”
The research may therefore bear some relevance to human public health
issues – namely the fact that high-calorie foods are often low-priced
and highly addictive. And the fallout from poor eating behaviors can be
as dramatic as that from drugs, said the authors. “Even though we
associate significant health hazards in taking drugs like cocaine and
morphine, high-fat/high-sugar foods may present even more of a danger
because of their accessibility and affordability,” said another author
on the study, Jamie Honohan. “We chose Oreos not only because they are
America’s favorite cookie, and highly palatable to rats, but also
because products containing high amounts of fat and sugar are heavily
marketed in communities with lower socioeconomic statuses.”
There’s been a heated debate about whether food addiction works in
fundamentally similar ways to more “classical” addictions. Some studies
have suggested some deleterious effects of sugar, and raised concerns
about the effects of certain varieties of sugar and sweeteners on the brain, while others aren’t so sure. At any rate, the combination of sugar and fat seems to be particularly
hard for people to resist. Certainly making healthy food available at
lower costs – and marketing them in the right ways – is an ongoing issue
in the “Big Food” industry, and one that’s only just beginning to
change in the smallest ways.
A final oddity of the current study: the rats apparently preferred
the creamy vanilla filling to the cookie itself. Said Honohan, “They
would break it open and eat the middle first.” Though this isn’t likely
enough to confirm that the results are applicable to humans, it does
make one wonder if we’re really not so different after all.
Was quoted from:http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/267543.php
and http://www.cbsnews.com/news/oreos-may-be-as-addictive-as-cocaine-morphine/
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