Newsgroups: sci.med.nutrition
Subject: Re: Food Addictions

[ad 666] at [freenet.buffalo.edu] writes:
>
>Does anyone know if any studies have been done regarding addictions to
>sugar and/or fat?

From "From Chocolate to Morphine", by Andrew Weil and Winifred Rosen. (A
very good book, although it's written as a high school textbook, and
shares the lack of references as most high school textbooks. It might
give you an idea of where to look for real information, though.)

"The combination of sugar and caffeine seems to be especially
habit-forming. Many people drink enormous amounts of cola, and though
they may think they are merely quenching their thirst, they are also
consuming calories, enough sugar to damage their teeth (and possibly
upset their metabolism), not to mention large doses of caffeine. Like
other stimulatnss, cola drinks are not unhealthy if used in moderation;
people who like them should just be aware of their nature and their
potential for abuse. Parents especially should remember that so-called
"soft drinks" are actually drugs that can affect the health and moods of
their children."

and later:

"One of the most famous sources of caffeine is chocolate, also made from
the seeds of a tropical tree. Chocolate, which contains a lot of fat and
is very bitter, must be mised with sugar to make it palatable. It, too,
contains a stimulating drug, and cases of chocolate dependence are easy
to find. You probably know a few "chocoholics." People who regularly
consume chocolate or go on chocolate-eating binges may not realize they
are involved with a drug, but their consumption usually follows the same
sort of pattern as with coffee, tea, and cola drinks.

 Chocolate contains only a small amount of caffeine, but has a lot of
theobromine, a close relative with similar effects. By itself,
theobromine cannot account for all aspects of chocolate addiction,
because chocolate addiction look sdifferent from other forms of
stimulant dependence. Most chocoholics are women and many of them crave
chocolate most intensely just before their menstrual periods. Women who
develop an addictive relationship with chocolate usually eat it in
cyclic binges rather than continually and often say it acts on them like
an instant antidepressent. As there is no reason to think that
theobromine affects men and women differently, other components of
chocolate must be involved. Very little research has been done on
chocolate, so no one knows for sure."


From "Chocolate: The Consuming Passion", by Sandra Boynton (a hilarious
book, highly recommended as a source of laughs, if not references):

"Much has been made lately of the recent scientific finding that there
is a chemical in chocolate -- phenylethylamine -- that is virtually
identical to the substance manufactured by the brain of an infatuated
individual. In various studies of this phenomenon [Drs. Donald F. Klein
and Michael R. Liebowitz, "Hysteriod Dysphoria," _Psychiatric Clinics of
North America_, Vol. II, No. 3, Dec. 1979; Dr. John Money, _Love and
Love-Sickness: The Science of Sex, Gender Difference and Pair-Bonding_,
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980.] the conclusion drawn is that
chocolate obsession is in fact self-medication for the spurned lover."

"Clearly it is not the lovelorn sufferer sho seeks solace in chocolate,
but rather the chocolate-deprived individual who, desperate, seeks in
mere love a pale approximation of bittersweet euphoria."