“I'm addicted to sugar”, “I can't do without sugar”, “I feel that my problem is sugar”… I hear these sentences every week in consultation. With, each time in the voice, a note of dismay, a feeling of helplessness. As if this white powder recalled other disastrous, prohibited ones. But can you really be addicted to sugar? The debate has raged in the scientific community for decades. And it is far from being settled. I'll give you my opinion, and some keys to help you cultivate a more peaceful relationship with sweet products.
A natural appetite for sugar
Alix swears to me that she would “die for a vanilla custard”. This regressive dessert tops the long list of sweet products she consumes every day. “I’m like a junkie, I need my fix,” she explains to me. Supporting examples: he sometimes leaves work to go to the pastry shop, steals biscuits from his colleagues' drawers and gets up at night to eat chocolate. For Rym, the desire is more circumscribed: the young woman only feels the “need” for sugar in the evening, after a long day of work. But for her it is already a form of dependence. “I was raised on sweet mint tea and oriental pastries, sugar is essential for me,” she tells me.
The attraction to sugar, innate or cultural? Both really.
The attraction to sugar is consubstantial with our biology. Breast milk is naturally rich in sugar (especially lactose). From birth, babies love its sweet taste, which provides a feeling of satisfaction, but above all provides easily assimilated energy, the preferred fuel for our brain: glucose. The appetite for sugar is in a way a survival strategy: our ancestors sought foods rich in sugar, such as ripe fruits, because they were a good source of energy. Our body was designed to stimulate this search for sugar. Its consumption activates what is called the brain's reward system, and releases dopamine, the pleasure hormone. We seek to rediscover this pleasure as often as possible, which makes us want to repeat the behavior.
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The natural preference therefore takes hold over the long term, but will be modulated by life experiences and eating habits. If, like Alix and Rym, we have been rewarded or comforted with sweet foods, we will associate sugar and well-being even more strongly. Positive reinforcement is put in place which makes it increasingly easier to take action.
Effects (almost) identical to drugs?
The same mechanism as drugs? Yes…and no. In 2007, Serge Ahmed, research director at the CNRS, and his teams carried out experiments on rats which caused quite a stir. For several days, the animals had the choice between a sugary drink and an intravenous dose of cocaine. Result: 85% of them preferred sugar! “A drug acts on the brain and pushes you to repeat the consumption of this substance. This is the case for sucrose (white sugar, N.D.L.R), which causes a flash activating the reward circuit,” concludes the researcher. In fact, neuroimaging has made it possible to identify that sugar targets the same areas of the brain (notably the striatum), the same “mediators of well-being” as drugs.
But are all the other characteristics linked to addiction, as defined by international classifications, present? Among them, the “compelling and irrepressible need to consume the substance”, also called “craving” seems effective in some of my patients, like Alix. As well as the “loss of control over the quantity and dedicated time”. But fortunately, this last criterion is still rare: it is rare that we spend a lot of time looking for a sweet product. For many of my patients who call themselves “addicts”, it is enough that there is nothing in the cupboards for the case to be heard.
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Furthermore, the question of “increasing tolerance to the addictive product” is poorly proven. Very few of my patients have to increase the amount of sugar to still feel the same benefit. Finally, the criterion of “inability to fulfill important obligations” is fortunately rarely met. The question of withdrawal remains subject to debate: certainly, some people feel bad after suddenly stopping sugar, but the effect felt is more psychological than physical (unlike narcotics).
A treatable behavioral addiction
Sugar addiction is therefore real, but undoubtedly more behavioral than biological. Of course, we are programmed to love sugar, but most of us are very good at eating it in (some) moderation. Sugar itself therefore does not make us addicted. It is an emotional context, ingrained habits and outrageously easy access to the substance that can lead to addiction. It's not easy to resist this cheap pleasure when it is present on every street corner and the agro-industry feeds us with added sugars from early childhood.
It is essential to explore the need that lies behind this appetite for sweets.
How to cope? By stimulating our reward system with products other than sugar. I suggest that Alix and Rym make a list of all the activities likely to delight them, calm them, comfort them…And to test them as an alternative to sugary products. It can be listening to a beloved song, a quick nap, a few yoga salutations, a cinnamon infusion, a candle-lit bath, and so many other things… it is essential to dig into the need hidden behind this appetite for sweets. And to find how to respond to it in a more diverse way.
Sweet products should not be demonized (which makes them even more desirable), but become less systematic. And also consumed with more tranquility and widening the range of pleasures. I offer my patients mindfulness tasting exercises. We strive to enjoy the variety of colors, scents, textures. And I invite them to favor a very good pastry (very expensive, so as not to want to buy two!) or a very good chocolate savored gently and with relish.
I also remind them that complete meals, rich in protein and fiber, make them less vulnerable to sweet cravings. And that whole fruits provide a delicious sweet sensation with little or no negative impact on health. So many little ways that little by little allow sugar to become an acceptable occasional pleasure.
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