Oreo’s Considered As Addictive As Cocaine
A study conducted by the Connecticut College and psychologist Joseph Schroder has determined that the Oreo cookie is as addictive as cocaine, at least for lab rats.
The study’s main goal was to find relevant data about the addictiveness caused by foods that are both high-fat and high in sugars. Joseph Schroder who is also the director of the behavioral neuroscience program at Connecticut College and his students have found that lab mice form an equally strong association between the sensation given by cocaine or morphine and Oreo cookies.
They also discovered that the ingestion of Oreo cookies managed to activate more neurons in the parts of the brain that register pleasure than exposure to drugs.
Dr Schroder said his team’s study shows that the brain is stimulated in nearly the same way by high-fat high-sugar foods as it is by drugs. He also added that the study results can explain why certain people can’t resist the urge to consume such foods even though they know they are a bad nutritional decision.
The Connecticut College professor concluded that while cocaine and drugs of the sort are a huge risk for a human’s health, foods that are high in both sugar and fats can pose an even greater risk due to their availability and affordability.