With obesity on the rise worldwide and excess sugar consumption considered a direct contributor, the search has been on for treatments to reverse the trend. Now a world-first study led by QUT may have the answer.
Excess sugar consumption has been directly linked to the rise in world-wide obesity...And now a world-first study published by the international research journal PLOS ONE, shows drugs used to treat nicotine addiction could be used to treat sugar addiction in animals, the new study coincides with another study that shows that long chronic sugar intake can cause eating disorders and impact on behaviour.
Latest figures state 1.9 billion people worldwide are overweight, with 600 million considered obese, and excess sugar consumption has been proven to contribute directly to weight gain.
One of the main issues with kicking sugar addiction is it has been shown to repeatedly elevate dopamine levels, which control the brain's reward and pleasure centres.
Similarly to drug addiction, after long-term consumption this leads to a reduction in dopamine levels. This then leads to higher consumption of sugar to get the same level of reward.
Much like other "drugs of abuse", withdrawal from chronic sugar exposure can result in an imbalance in dopamine (happy hormone) levels and results in a "withdrawal" effect when people are asked to go "cold turkey".
The full Neuronal Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Modulators Reduce Sugar Intake paper can be read on PLOS ONE.