Oreos are as addictive as cocaine, morphine

[ny biker]

Science proves what we already know...

http://www.conncoll.edu/news/news-archive/2013/student-faculty-research-shows-oreos-are-just-as-addictive-as-drugs-in-lab-rats-.htm#.Ul4BsFMTFAf

[Owlie]

All this has served to do is remind me that I have cookies-and-cream ice cream in my freezer.

[SheFly]

What this tells me is that Oreos taste better than rice cakes. I already knew that ;)

I'm not seeing the parallel to the drugs, however... Science is drawing some very sketchy conclusions here, IMO.

SheFly

[OakLeaf]

What this tells me is that Oreos taste better than rice cakes. I already knew that ;)

I'm not seeing the parallel to the drugs, however... Science is drawing some very sketchy conclusions here, IMO.

SheFly

Well, on the behavioral end, sure, but the fMRI data did directly compare the cookies and the drugs.

What gets me is they act like Nabisco didn't do this research decades ago (though without the neuroimaging). Junk food is quite literally designed to be addictive.

[snapdragen]

I'm just glad they have these handy single serving packages....

snap "oreo-hoor" dragen

16748

[luvmyguys]

What this tells me is that Oreos taste better than rice cakes. I already knew that ;)

I'm not seeing the parallel to the drugs, however... Science is drawing some very sketchy conclusions here, IMO.

SheFly

Agree. Bedroom activity activates pleasure centers in the brain too. For good reason. :D

Here's a counterpoint. (http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/no-oreos-arent-as-addictive-as-cocaine)

I'm not saying that Oreos are the way to good health, but I can buy a package without developing a chemical dependency.

[thekarens]

However, junk food could be an addiction. I know people addicted to food. I've never met anyone that interested in Oreos though. As a side note, there are sex addicts as well. I said all that to say I do see the parallel. Some drugs are psychologically addicting and some are physically addicting.

[GLC1968]

Agree. Bedroom activity activates pleasure centers in the brain too. For good reason. :D

Here's a counterpoint. (http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/no-oreos-arent-as-addictive-as-cocaine)

I'm not saying that Oreos are the way to good health, but I can buy a package without developing a chemical dependency.

Perhaps true for you, but not everyone is capable of avoiding that dependency. Plenty of people are addicted to 'food like substances' ...just like there are people addicted to sex. I don't think there is anything particularly special about an Oreo, but as Oak mentioned, junk food, by it's very nature, is designed to create 'users' as opposed to consumers.

[emily_in_nc]

And the counterpoint (well made, I think):

No, Oreos aren't as addictive as Cocaine (http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/no-oreos-arent-as-addictive-as-cocaine)

[GLC1968]

I see what that author is trying to say in the counterpoint post, but he/she is kind of missing the point.

OK, you don't form an addiction to food-like substances by the textbook definition. You can develop a chemical dependency on it. This " You can stop eating Oreos with no physical symptoms. " is just wrong. Sure, if you just eat one Oreo in conjunction with a healthy meal, maybe. If you live on predominantly junk food and you stop eating it for 24 hours there will be physical symptoms - even if you substitute in an unlimited amount of healthy food.

For example, anyone can go over to the Whole 9 forum and do a search on the 'withdrawal' symptoms everyone goes through for a few days just for cutting out all processed foods, grains, dairy and sugar. EVERYONE experiences it. Everyone. How is that 'no physical symptoms'?

Of course the media is responsible for over-hyping just about everything. And maybe Oreos are not AS addictive as cocaine (oddly enough, at the end of that article, they make the point that nicotine is more addictive than cocaine by the numbers), but to say that you cannot form a chemical dependency on junk food is just ignoring the obvious in my opinion.