Is your brain on HFCS the same as your brain on cocaine?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Does high fructose corn syrup make some of us behave like drug-addicted rats?

New research by an expert on addiction has found the same pattern of behavior in rats on cocaine and rats self-dosing on high fructose corn syrup.

Dr. Francesco Leri, an associate professor of neuroscience and applied cognitive science at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, presented these findings at the annual meeting last week of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience.

Leri has observed his “food addiction hypothesis” in two previously published studies, both using Oreo cookies, but this time he used actual high fructose corn syrup, selected “because of the controversy (over it) in the literature,” he told me in an interview.

“We got the same results over and over, and now we are exploring the different aspects of it,” he said.

Purchasing a “huge pail” of HFCS over the Internet, Leri diluted the syrup by mixing it with distilled water to three concentrations and by inserting a small tube in the test animal’s mouth, the rats were able to press a lever and receive as many doses of HFCS as they wanted.

What Leri discovered was that the more he increased the percentage of HFCS, the more the rats worked to obtain it, which is “exactly what you notice with drug abuse, the same type of pattern,” he said.

“The (rats’) intake of the fructose is very much related to its concentration,” said Leri. “When you change the percentage of the solution, the behavior changes, and the most compelling and most interesting evidence we have is that as you increase the percentage (of HFCS), the animals work harder and harder for each infusion.”

Leri also “satiated” some of the rats by allowing them full access to their chow, and while the self-dosing of the HFCS decreased somewhat, “it was still there, it didn’t go away,” said Leri, adding that the rats “continued to prefer the higher concentrations.”

http://foodidentitytheft.com/is-your-brain-on-hfcs-the-same-as-your-brain-on-cocaine/

[duraaraa 203]

I don't know... I haven't noticed a difference at all between living in a country with HFCS in everything, and living in one without HFCS in anything. Then again, I'm not a rat (last time I checked, anyway).

Interesting topic, though.

Edited June 3, 2013 by duraaraa

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Is your brain on HFCS the same as your brain on cocaine?

No. I have done both, not the same.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Can you smoke or snort HFCS?

[james&olya 1,121]

I don't know... I haven't noticed a difference at all between living in a country with HFCS in everything, and living in one without HFCS in anything. Then again, I'm not a rat (last time I checked, anyway).

Interesting topic, though.

I noticed a huge difference when I visited eastern europe. Felt better there than I had in many years, almost my entire life. Yes, part of it was meeting someone new, but part of it was the food. I have since cut out HFCS and soy protein additives and am now enjoying the same increase in physical well-being I experienced there. We need fewer chemical factories involved in the food we eat here!

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Can you smoke or snort HFCS?

Yes. HFCS is often cut with cocaine-like substances.