Sugar Addiction Fact or Fiction?

History

A complex mixture of….

Physics, Biochemistry,

Endocrinology, Neuroscience,

Psychology, Sociology and

Environmental Health.

Sugar is everywhere.

Our digestion and metabolisms haven’t changed in 130,000 years. In 150 years, our sugar intake has gone from 0 kg to about 60 kg a year. Yes, sugar is natural. But the amount we’re constantly exposed to isn’t…

Fast Food Nation

Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser, summed up our predicament quite neatly. Writing in 2000, he said:

“What we eat has changed more in

the last 40 years than in the previous 40,000”

Outdated theories

Many people still believe that obesity is down to gluttony and sloth. However the latest research is disproving this when looking at the brain, the reward system, the hormonal system and the way fat is stored.

Reward

Hunger

….and Stress too?

The Limbic Triangle.

So these three brain pathways (hunger, reward, stress) Drive hyper-insulinemia (excess insulin levels), resulting in obesity and metabolic syndrome We call this model the “limbic triangle”—similar to the Bermuda Triangle: once you get in, you can’t get out Fat Chance: The bitter truth about sugar (Lustig, Dr. Robert)

The Limbic Triangle – part 2.

Which pathway has a problem? It’s different for all clients and/or maybe a mixture of them all. Fat Chance: The bitter truth about sugar (Lustig, Dr. Robert)

Other Science and Research?

Is it Addiction? Psychologically?

Research.

Robinson and Berridge (2003) have suggested that some drugs of abuse

may weaken the “rational break” of cognitive regulatory processes, which

are necessary to inhibit motivational impulses and could impact on other

psychological factors such as decision taking.

Research – part 2.

Keller (2008) explains: “we all need food to survive but it is difficult to ascribe addiction to behaviors towards food” However, recent brain imaging data have shown similarities in dopamine functioning and activation of the reward circuitry of the brain between those experiencing “loss of control” over eating and those addicted to drugs. (pg 285).

Research – part 3.

Numerous studies support the observation of impaired decision making and altered neural activation .

(Bechara et al. 2001; Clark and Robbins 2002; Esch et al. 2005; Grant et al 1996; Rogers et al. 1999).

Research – part 4.

Foods are not addictive per se (Corwin and Grigson 2009) food

may not fit the use, abstinence, relapse drug model of addiction

(Rodgers and Smith 1999) and there is no support from human

subjects that sucrose may be physically addictive or that

addiction to sugar plays a role in eating disorders.(Benton 2009;

Herrin and Matsumoto, 2007)

Research – part 5.

A recent, thorough review published in 2010 in the esteemed “Journal of Clinical Nutrition” by Benton from the University of Swansea concluded:

“there is no support from the human literature for the hypothesis that sucrose may be physically addictive or that addiction to

sugar plays a role in eating disorders.” (pg. 288-303).

This review looked at over 160 studies that have been

conducted on this topic.

But is it true?

Brain Plasticity.

Exposure to high-density, highly reinforcing hedonic foods during pregnancy, early childhood or adolescence could alter gene

expression and proteins.

Thus making overeating and food addiction more likely later on.

Kelly D. Brownell, Mark S. Gold (2012)

Synaptic Conditioning.

Once the neuronal networks that

regulate an activity and its

rewarding response are organised,

the behaviour is very difficult to

extinguish.

Synaptic Conditioning – part 2.

Drugs and food appear to compete for control over the same neuronal pathways in the brain, and behaviours that reinforce their respective uses. Support for this theory comes from a study that found that, in animals and humans - food deprivation appeared to intensify the reinforcing effects of drugs.

Dagher, A. (2012). Hormones, Hunger and Food Addiction. In K. D. Brownell & M. S. Gold (Eds.), Food and Addiction (pp.200-205). Oxford University Press, New York

Pleasure & Reward, Homeostasis.

We all have a drive for pleasure Some of us need a lot more stimulation to feel pleasure which

drives us to pursue addictive activities that stimulate the reward centre in the brain

We often see these as moral failures or results of character defects.

In fact, it may be that addicts and overeaters too are simply

unlucky and born with unfortunate genetic variations in their reward and pleasure mechanisms

If Sugar were addictive?

Is there a Mild, Moderate or Severe debate?

Circuits involved in Drug Abuse & Addiction

In humans, addictive

behaviour is often accompanied by complex psychological/psychiatric

constructs like memory, boredom, shame, guilt, habit, impulsivity, restraint, depression and anxiety. Undoubtedly, these contribute to behavioural addiction….

However, predisposition or not, everyone has a part to play

Undoubtedly, we all need to act responsibly given that easy access to highly palatable calorie dense foods promotes overeating and potentially the development of an “eating addiction” in predisposed individuals.

With all clients we want to:

To reduce attachment to unhealthy foods

To help define healthy strategies and behaviors

To address underlying emotional needs/promote

emotional health

To work with body image and weight concerns

To regain contact with bodily needs – hunger

mechanism, exercise etc

To educate about the brain, insulin and hormones

To help with food choices and supply

Get Out of the Hunger, Reward and Stress Trap

1. Get the insulin down—to reduce body fat and

improve leptin resistance

2. Get the ghrelin down—to reduce hunger

3. Get the cortisol down—to reduce perceived stress and hunger,

and reduce deposition of energy into visceral fat

4. Stop imbibing in sugar and junk foods so the reward pathway in the

brain returns to normal, down-regulates and normal foods become

palatable again

Dr. Robert Lustig, Fat Chance: The bitter truth about sugar

And Essentially?

We need to help people find a really good why to reduce? Why should they cut down? Everyone needs a good enough reason to stop!

Way out globally

1. Biochemically we have to alter our hormones = reduce sugar, processed foods and therefore insulin being released so we can help our hormones to help us

2. Environmentally, we have to alter our food production and supply 3. Psychologically and emotionally - no more blame, shame or pain – it’s

not just our fault but we can take responsibility, nobody else will take it for us

4. Neuro-physiologically - we need to feel enough pain to want to change our wiring and ultimately re-boot and re-wire the brain

5. Everybody needs to get involved and work together systemically for change, from the Government to Education, from Parents to Advertisers and the Media, from the Food Producers to the Health Specialists – Everybody : )

We are all Responsible for the 2.1 billion people on the planet who are

obese or overweight, all of us!

Is it willpower then?

Nobody chooses to be obese or compulsively overeat.

Nobody can assert cognitive inhibition on a

biochemical drive, particularly one that has been primed for 365 days a year maybe every year for the

last 30 or 40 years.

Obesity changes the wiring of the brain.

Robert Lustig

For more details on Sweet Enough and the Affiliate Programme

visit: www.loulebentz.com

Or give us a call

Lou Lebentz 07789 866922 lou@loulebentz.com

and/or Jules Sims 07908 517765

julie@loulebentz.com