Kids have been singing about wanting candy for decades, with Aaron Carter‘s smash hit being a notable mention.
But that was a naive time, and now researchers from Queensland University of Technology reckon sugar addiction is so real it warrants the same treatment methods used for serious drug addictions.
QUT Neuroscientist professor, Selena Barlett, says long-term consumption of sugar can screw up your dopamine levels, leading to higher consumption for the same level of reward (like any addiction, really).
To test out how to curtail having a mega sweet tooth, the crew conducted the study on a bunch of sugar-addicted rats, giving them pharmacotherapeutic smoking cessation drug Champix.
Champix works by modulating dopamine release and reducing cravings for things like smoking and alcohol. And according to the study, it now shows it can work to lower sugar consumption, too.
Because the drug’s already an FDA-approved addiction treatment, the team hope clinical trials with humans won’t be far off.
It might seem a little extreme, but with 1.9 billion people worldwide being overweight, and 600 million considered obese, taking serious steps to stop excess sugar consumption is a pretty alright idea.
Source: SMH.
Photo: The Simpsons.
