IJERPH, Vol. 18, Pages 9791: Sugars and Sweet Taste: Addictive or Rewarding?

We present selected literature on: techniques used to link sugar and sweet tastes to addiction neurobiology and behaviors; sugar and sweet taste “addiction”; the relationship of low calorie sweetener (LCS) intake to addictive behaviors and total calorie intake. Finally, we examined the reward value of sweet tastes and contrasted that with the literature describing addiction. The lack of reproducibility of fMRI data remains problematic for attributing aa common neurobiological pathway activation of drugs and foods as conclusive evidence for sugar or sweet taste “addiction”. Moreover, the complicated hedonics of sweet taste and reward value are suggested by validated population-level data which demonstrate that the consumption of sweet taste in the absence of calories does not increase total caloric intake. We believe the neurobiologies of reward value and addiction to be distinct and disagree with application of the addiction model to sweet food overconsumption. Most hypotheses of sugar “addiction” attribute the hedonics of sweet foods as the equivalent of “addiction”. Further, when addictive behaviors and biology are critically examined in totality, they contrast dramatically from those associated with the desire for sweet taste. Finally, the evidence is strong that responses to the palatability of sweets rather than their metabolic consequences are the salient features for reward value. Thus, given the complexity of the controls of food intake in humans, we q...
Source: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Commentary Source Type: research