Is food more addictive than heroin?

Posted on Feb 10th 2007 4:54PM by Rigel Celeste

Filed Under: Diet & Weight Loss, Motivation, Nutrition & Supplements

According to Dr. Sam Sugar addiction can be defined as "repetitive behavior beyond your control that leads to adverse consequences." That's especially interesting because according to a recently published report, compulsive eating and drug addiction are similiar in terms of brain activity. So, it's possible to be addicted to food?

Yeah, that seems to be the case. Did you know it takes more time to detoxify somebody from coffee than it does heroin? And unfortunately for food addicts, they face so many social eating situations it's very difficult to notice it as an addiction, and then having temptation and advertisements everywhere makes it obviously very difficult to control. And to top it all off, our society has made it almost the norm to overeat and have unhealthy food relationships. Makes you wonder.

And I just can't resist: Dr. Sugar? That's too funny.

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Tags: addicting, addiction, addictive, caffiene, coffee, detox, drugs, eating, food, heroine, obesity

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Mike Harris 2-10-2007 @ 6:43PM

Is food more addictive than a female hero?

Pip 2-12-2007 @ 8:34AM

You know, I wouldn't be surprised. Certain types of junk food especially leave you craving more and more. I used to get a Caramel Frappucino NEED at around 3:00pm every day. And when I gave up eating chocolate for a while, I no longer wanted it at all - it tasted too sugary. I think foods, especially high-carb, high-fat, or very sugary foods can be addictive. However, it is easier to have addictive foods in moderation, with self control, then heroin, I'm guessing...

Rigel 2-11-2007 @ 7:54PM

Wow, can't believe I did that! (heroin/heroine). Thanks for the catch!

LostCause 2-15-2007 @ 6:30AM

Yeah I just shot-up some spagetti sauce and I just may snort a line of cinnamon. Yeah Baby Party All Night

quagmired 2-15-2007 @ 8:25PM

If food is as addictive as drugs, I better check myself into the Betty Crocker clinic!

Sha 2-15-2007 @ 7:05AM

The scary part of that article seems to have been overlooked. An alcoholic can go thru a 12 step program and stop drinking and while they are not cured they will not die if they don't drink. The same for a smoker or any other kind of addict. They will not die when they stop the addictive behavior but a person addicted to food "must" continue to eat or they will die. Of course the food addict won't die if they cut sugar out of their diet but it only makes sense to me that since they could easily replace sugar with a different food since food can not be completely taken from them during or after treatment that the treatment approach would have to be greatly modified from traditional treatments to be effective. That also brings me to another think over looked, each food addict is probably going to be addicted to a differnt food source, some sugar, some starch etc. To be honest I don't find this humorous at all...I find it frightening!!!!

Fran 2-15-2007 @ 7:03AM

Never did heroin, so I wouldn't know about that. But I do know that CHOCOLATE has had a "hold" on me for years! My daughter did a science fair project one time presenting a survey to people entering the super market. The results showed that I was not alone. More than 60% had actually gone to the store just for it! I don't know if a 12 step program is needed here, but it made me feel good knowing that I was not alone! Oh, and the survey showed the favorite - Hersheys. Personally, CADBURY has a hold on me!

jim 2-16-2007 @ 4:52PM

Well, I must be an oxygen junky. Pretty soon, I may start knocking off liquour stores. What a load.

Mikki 2-15-2007 @ 7:34AM

Food is definitely as addictive. Have you ever noticed yourself eating something salty and then wanting something sweet, then something crunchy, etc.? Or how about going for your favorite snack cake in the middle of the night only to find yourself eating the whole box? I've battled with a food addiction all my life, and sometimes I feel it's as painful and as hard to deal with as a heroin addiction. I've seen people go through both and they're not fun.

Sweet Marie 2-15-2007 @ 7:53AM

Most addictive habit is breathing, then comes the urge to consume water, then eating food is right behind that urge. The secret is do do each in the correct order, and amount. After all, you cant breath water!

Jules 2-15-2007 @ 7:55AM

I have known several addicts (varied substances) that once clean and sober have gained weight, transfering their substance cravings to sugar. Ever notice the amount of sweets consumed by recovering alcoholics? Most of them swear it is the same hold.
"poison" guitarist, CC DeVille gained 70 pounds after he kicked heroin and swore that it was harder to lose the weight than kick his habit to drugs. He also said that people were more judgemental of his weight gain than of his former habit of ramming needles up his arm.
What a sad statement on our society.

Donna 2-15-2007 @ 7:56AM

There is nothing amusing about dealing with food addiction for a true food junkie. Anorexia and bullemia have come to the public attention and been treated with some degree of acceptance, but the average food junkie is largely ignored. Actually there is a level of judgement that goes along with this. The person must be defective if they are addicted to food. They must be of low character, lacking will power, and weak minded.

I have dealt with this problem my entire life. I see my grandchildren already struggling and they are in elementary school. The dynamics are not clear cut and few doctors have any insight in handling a food addicted patient.

The medical profession is not adept at doing preventive medicine for anyone and the food addict is treated very badly. Doctors tell you to just not do it. In my particular case, I cannot consume over 25 mg of carbohydrate in any form in one day and not sufffer the effects of it. These include weight gain, elevated blood sugar, mood swings and craving for more carbohydrate. Depression is also a huge part of the syndrome.

I have 19 aunts and uncles and 63 first cousins. In this group of people, alcoholism and drug addicition have run rampant. Food addiction is part of the family culture. It became a "what comes first the chicken or the egg" question for me as I observed these people. Recent findings in medicine show relationships between diabetes and liver malfunction in certain groups of people. It is not news that some ethnic groups are more prone to diabetes and other diseases than others. The same may be said of food addiction. Many food addicts were born with the genetic inclination. In my case even milk is poison. How could my parents have known that when I was a child?

To conclude, one may record me as stating that there definitely is a condition known as food addiction that is far worse than heroine addiction.

"wink" 2-15-2007 @ 8:24AM

To those that find any part of food addiction funny I say one thing.... F. O. (please pardon the language but it's that serious for me and many others). It's very serious.

Number 6(Sha) in these comments said it VERY well indeed.......very insightful and I salute you you for it.

Jennifer 2-15-2007 @ 8:48AM

Why does it take a Dr. to announce that food is addictive? Anyone with common since knows this. My husband is a severe alcoholic. I really admire him because he can put his beer down. I cannot by any means control my eating the way he will stop drinking.

Food is an addiction. I have unhealthy issues as far as food is concerned and the bad thing about it is that my little girl is falling into the same trap.

And what makes it so bad is that there is no support groups in my area.

Mike 2-15-2007 @ 8:22AM

People who say that things (such as nicotine) are more addictive than heroin don't know what they're talking about. If you've been hooked for a long time and quit, you'll be sick for weeks, miserable for months, and feeling empty for years. Food is a physical addiction in that you can't go without it. But compare fasting for two days to going two days without smack, and it's obvious which is worse.

Take a Look 2-15-2007 @ 8:52AM

Buquisha say u whities eat to much dat why yer butts be bigger den oures

CHRISTINE 2-15-2007 @ 9:29AM

I saw this show on either Discovery or TLC or something similiar to that, and they had brain scans to prove this. (It was actually a show about the half ton man) They side by side showed a brain scan of a normal person (which looked like one blob) then the brain scan of an alcoholic (which looked like two blobs) . . . they did the same thing w/someone on heroin, and also someone addicted to cocaine. . . all of the scans differed from a normal person's brain scan b/c instead of one blob they had two. Then they showed the brain scan of someone addicted to food, and it was the same as all of the other addicts. It's not funny. Some people eat when they're depressed (like an alcoholic would drink when they're unhappy, or a cokehead snorts a line to pick them up) it's all the same thing. And Sha brought up a VERY good point. It's even harder to control the addiction b/c you can't just all together STOP EATING. It's like here, you need this much but you're only gonna get this much. (like a detox) Donna also brought up a good point too. . . "Anorexia and bullemia have come to the public attention and been treated with some degree of acceptance, but the average food junkie is largely ignored." Anorexia and bullemia are actually a chemical imbalance. . . . so why is it so hard for people to believe that over eating/food addiction should be considered a problem too??

CHRISTINE 2-15-2007 @ 9:32AM

Christy 2-15-2007 @ 9:15AM

Comment 6 was on the right track. You dont expect an alcoholic to go through each day and have just a sip of alcohol, that would just lead to a glass then 2,3...... For an addicted person nothing at all is better than a little bit, because that just triggers the addiction and makes them want more. People must eat to survive, and for a food addict who is trying to control the habit, eating just a little snack is tourture. It leaves them feeling anxious and constantly thinking about when they get their next "fix".

Ann 2-15-2007 @ 9:53AM

My husband and I each smoked 2 1/2 packs of cigarettes a day. About twenty years ago, we put them down and never picked them up again. I was thinking all these people trying to quit were making too big a thing of it. About a year ago, I realized we are both addicted to food the way some are to smoking, and this addiction we just can't shake. We have eaten ourselves into diabetes, CHF, HBP and a host of weight related problems. Our friends and family say"just get up from the table". They would be more understanding if we were battling drugs or acohol.(we don't drink). IS there any hope for us?

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