Mannheim, Germany (dpa) - Sweetened muesli for breakfast, an ice
cream at mid-morning, biscuits with coffee as a matter of course -
sweet snacks are part of many people's daily routine.
In some cases, the appetite for high-calorie items appears to be
insatiable. But does this qualify as addiction?
An article in the Huffington Post last year by Frank Lipman - who
describes himself as an integrative doctor - on his apparent sugar
addiction and the road to kicking the habit, has provoked a great
deal of discussion on sugar addiction.
Lipman believes that the desire for sugar is triggered initially
by the sugar in mother's milk, and later by parents using treats to
console or reward their children. By adulthood, people anticipate
that sugar will improve mood and provide energy.
Following a 2007 study on rats, which love sugar just as much as
people, French researchers came to the conclusion that sugar was as
addictive as cocaine, nicotine and alcohol.
They offered the rodents a choice between water sweetened with
saccharin and water laced with cocaine, and 94 per cent of the rats
took the sweet option.
A further test revealed that even rats used to cocaine switched to
sugar as soon as they were given the choice.
But Falk Kiefer, a professor in the German city of Mannheim who
specializes in addiction, says: "There is no such thing as sugar
addiction."
The desire for food cannot be equated to heroin addiction, in
Kiefer's view, although both sugar and heroin work on the same part
of the brain: the reward system.
Nutritionist Sven-David Mueller is of the same opinion. "The kind
of addiction people have for cocaine or psychotropic drugs doesn't
develop with chocolate. Rather, there is a highly developed desire,"
he says, and this is tantamount to addiction for some people.
Mueller says that sweetness is a taste that we experience as
positive, as shown by tests on babies. This is because sweet things
are easily digested and not dangerous. He maintains that there are no
studies showing that high sugar consumption is purely damaging.
"If I am not already overweight and exercise adequately and brush
my teeth regularly, I will not get type 2 diabetes or caries from
sugar," Kiefer adds.
Both agree that excessive sugar intake is associated with other
risk factors, such as overweight resulting from too many calories in
the diet, lack of exercise and chronic stress.
This in turn can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure, heart
problems or joint ailments.
The experts says there is no well defined medical limit for how
much sugar an individual may consume, although German health
authorities recommend that no more than 10 per cent of daily energy
needs should be consumed in the form of sugar.
A normal adult woman should thus consume no more than 50 grams of
sugar per day.
Copyright 2012 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH