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Synthe
Gatorade me, bitch!



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Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine
#18986482 - 10/16/13 02:43 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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This further convinces me that sugar is actually one of the most harmful drugs out there.
EDIT: replaced newsfeed story with forbes version of same story
A small new study suggests the brain responds to Oreo cookies quite like it responds to actual drugs – at least if you’re a rat. The “pleasure center” of the brain, the nucleus accumbens, apparently gets just as activated in response to Oreos as it does to cocaine and morphine, which could actually have some major public health implications. While the study was done in rats, the authors say it’s likely relevant to humans as well, and could explain why people have such a hard time resisting eating an entire sleeve of the cookies. The study, which will be presented at the Society for Neuroscience’s annual conference next month, also made another discovery: Rats, like humans, like to eat Oreo’s creamy center first.
To test how the animals responded to Oreos vs. drugs, the team trained mice to navigate a maze. On one side, Oreo cookies were provided, and on the other side plain rice cakes were offered. As you’d guess, the rats were significantly more likely to spend time on the Oreo side of the maze. The team also compared these results to rats who were trained with morphine or cocaine rather than Oreos. They found that regardless of what “substance” the rats were offered (Oreos, cocaine, or morphine) they spent about the same amount of time on the “drug” side of the maze.
These behavioral data aren’t so surprising, but the researchers also reported some interesting neurological results. When rats were given Oreos, a protein called c-Fos was expressed strongly in an area of the brain called the nucleus accumbens, which is well known to be active in pleasure and addiction.
“It basically tells us how many cells were turned on in a specific region of the brain in response to the drugs or Oreos,” said Connecticut College professor Joseph Schroeder, who led the research. Oreos actually activated cells in this brain area more than did either cocaine or morphine, which suggests that that magical combination of sugar and fat may be even more delectable to our brains than drugs.
“Our research supports the theory that high-fat/high-sugar foods stimulate the brain in the same way that drugs do,” Schroeder said. “It may explain why some people can’t resist these foods despite the fact that they know they are bad for them.”
The research may therefore bear some relevance to human public health issues – namely the fact that high-calorie foods are often low-priced and highly addictive. And the fallout from poor eating behaviors can be as dramatic as that from drugs, said the authors. “Even though we associate significant health hazards in taking drugs like cocaine and morphine, high-fat/high-sugar foods may present even more of a danger because of their accessibility and affordability,” said another author on the study, Jamie Honohan. “We chose Oreos not only because they are America’s favorite cookie, and highly palatable to rats, but also because products containing high amounts of fat and sugar are heavily marketed in communities with lower socioeconomic statuses.”
There’s been a heated debate about whether food addiction works in fundamentally similar ways to more “classical” addictions. Some studies have suggested some deleterious effects of sugar, and raised concerns about the effects of certain varieties of sugar and sweeteners on the brain, while others aren’t so sure. At any rate, the combination of sugar and fat seems to be particularly hard for people to resist. Certainly making healthy food available at lower costs – and marketing them in the right ways – is an ongoing issue in the “Big Food” industry, and one that’s only just beginning to change in the smallest ways.
A final oddity of the current study: the rats apparently preferred the creamy vanilla filling to the cookie itself. Said Honohan, “They would break it open and eat the middle first.” Though this isn’t likely enough to confirm that the results are applicable to humans, it does make one wonder if we’re really not so different after all.
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Edited by Synthe (10/16/13 03:56 PM)
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xbloodwhipx

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Re: Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine [Re: Synthe]
#18986656 - 10/16/13 03:25 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Wait, why didnt they put them in a cage with coke on one side and oreos on the other? Does this even prove anything or just that they like oreos more then rice cakes and drugs more then saline
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WScott
´ ɑ `▽ ᑲᓇᑕ


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Re: Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine [Re: Synthe]
#18986679 - 10/16/13 03:30 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Synthe said: The research looked at the rats’ behaviors and the effects the cookies had on their brains. Rats were put into a maze and given the choice of hanging out near rice cakes or Oreos. The tasty sandwich cookies won that popularity contest handily. Those results were compared to a different test, where rats were given the choice of loitering in an area of a maze where they were injected with saline or in another corner where they could get a shot of cocaine or morphine.
While I like that mainstream society is finally taking a critical look at sugar.. I feel that this study has a bit of a gap between what a rodent prefers and what the addictive potential of these substances is on these organisms.
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Repertoire89
Cat



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Re: Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine [Re: xbloodwhipx]
#18986784 - 10/16/13 03:51 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
xbloodwhipx said: Wait, why didnt they put them in a cage with coke on one side and oreos on the other? Does this even prove anything or just that they like oreos more then rice cakes and drugs more then saline
Yeah I really hope there is more to this than what was in the article, rice cakes vs oreos?
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Synthe
Gatorade me, bitch!



Registered: 11/10/12
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Re: Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine [Re: Repertoire89]
#18986889 - 10/16/13 04:12 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Repertoire89 said:
Quote:
xbloodwhipx said: Wait, why didnt they put them in a cage with coke on one side and oreos on the other? Does this even prove anything or just that they like oreos more then rice cakes and drugs more then saline
Yeah I really hope there is more to this than what was in the article, rice cakes vs oreos?

I edited out the original article and pasted in a different one on the same study. Hope it makes it a bit more clear for you guys
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pwnasaurus
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Re: Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine [Re: xbloodwhipx]
#18987003 - 10/16/13 04:38 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
xbloodwhipx said: Wait, why didnt they put them in a cage with coke on one side and oreos on the other? Does this even prove anything or just that they like oreos more then rice cakes and drugs more then saline
I was wondering the exact same thing.
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Learyfan
It's the psychedelic movement!



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Re: Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine [Re: Synthe] 2
#18987840 - 10/16/13 07:37 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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You ever sucked dick for an Oreo?
-------------------- -------------------------------- Mp3 of the month: The Fe-Fi-Four Plus 2 - I Wanna Come Back (From the World of LSD)
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bloodsheen
ChemChaplin



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Re: Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine [Re: Learyfan] 1
#18988813 - 10/16/13 10:42 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Learyfan said: You ever sucked dick for an Oreo?

Yea, this study is pointless. Everyone knows addiction is not as cut and dry as the media makes it out to be. When you hit 500lbs, there are clearly forces beyond your direct control that make you continue to stuff your face. However, if somebody was told they couldn't get hamburgers and ores for some reason, I strongly doubt people would immediately commit crimes and steal in order to get more hamburgers and oreos.
Idk, not science but seems like sound logic to me
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A cautious young fellow named Lodge / Had seat belts installed in his Dodge. / When his date was strapped in / He committed a sin / Without even leaving the garage. That's clever, isn't it?-A boy and his dog
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aphorism
extrasensory perception



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Re: Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine [Re: bloodsheen]
#18989272 - 10/17/13 12:54 AM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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can we get a link back to the original article?
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badchad
Mad Scientist

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Re: Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine [Re: xbloodwhipx]
#18989638 - 10/17/13 06:20 AM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
xbloodwhipx said: Wait, why didnt they put them in a cage with coke on one side and oreos on the other? Does this even prove anything or just that they like oreos more then rice cakes and drugs more then saline
I'd speculate that the reason they didn't do a direct comparison is because it would be exceptionally cumbersome to chose the "dose" to compare (e.g. dose of cocaine and amount of oreos).
Place preference studies like this are time-consuming, and not really suitable to look at a bunch of doses. Instead they made the leap between c-fos and cocaine by examining c-fos. However, using c-fos as a marker is also a load of horse shit.
-------------------- ...the whole experience is (and is as) a profound piece of knowledge. It is an indellible experience; it is forever known. I have known myself in a way I doubt I would have ever occurred except as it did. Smith, P. Bull. Menninger Clinic (1959) 23:20-27; p. 27. ...most subjects find the experience valuable, some find it frightening, and many say that is it uniquely lovely. Osmond, H. Annals, NY Acad Science (1957) 66:418-434; p.436
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Synthe
Gatorade me, bitch!



Registered: 11/10/12
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Re: Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine [Re: aphorism]
#18991104 - 10/17/13 02:03 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Learyfan
It's the psychedelic movement!



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Re: Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine [Re: Synthe]
#18991697 - 10/17/13 04:14 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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I went to rehab after an Oreo overdose and then went to jail for robbing people for Oreo money. 
-------------------- -------------------------------- Mp3 of the month: The Fe-Fi-Four Plus 2 - I Wanna Come Back (From the World of LSD)
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meandering

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Re: Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine [Re: Synthe]
#18992414 - 10/17/13 07:03 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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I fill my oreos with cocaine, so I'm at a bit of a loss on how I should interpret this study.
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The Phleg
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Re: Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine [Re: Synthe]
#18992476 - 10/17/13 07:17 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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-------------------- You wanna get high? Drink tap water. --------------------
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Repertoire89
Cat



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Re: Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine [Re: Synthe]
#18994167 - 10/18/13 05:26 AM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Practically speaking if you offer a rat oreos or cocaine after having given them both at some point, I'm pretty sure the cocaine will be way more popular. Isn't that literally how it works with humans?
Can eat or do some coke? 10 months later, dropped 30lbs
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bloodsheen
ChemChaplin



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Re: Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine [Re: Repertoire89]
#18995622 - 10/18/13 01:21 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Repertoire89 said: Practically speaking if you offer a rat oreos or cocaine after having given them both at some point, I'm pretty sure the cocaine will be way more popular. Isn't that literally how it works with humans?
Can eat or do some coke? 10 months later, dropped 30lbs
Yea, this study was serious fail, this is the whole reason addiction is bad . You choose drugs over literally everything.
Who the fuck looked at their experimental methods before funding?
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A cautious young fellow named Lodge / Had seat belts installed in his Dodge. / When his date was strapped in / He committed a sin / Without even leaving the garage. That's clever, isn't it?-A boy and his dog
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dokunai
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Re: Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine [Re: bloodsheen] 6
#18998498 - 10/19/13 04:12 AM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Oreos today are way more potent than they were in the 60s and 70s.
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