Sugar is everywhere in today’s food system and one among the foremost common ingredients in processed foods. it's often described as addictive.
Since sugar became widely available within the us , the typical consumption per person within the country increased by 10 times, to quite 45 kilograms per annum .
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that folks within the U.S. now derive around 14% of their daily calories from added sugar.
Such high consumption rates are concerning, given sugar’s association with type 2 diabetes and obesity, both of which are on the increase within the Western world.
Now, researchers from Columbia University , in ny , have identified a number of the brain mechanisms behind sugar consumption, which can explain why sugar causes cravings that artificial sweeteners just can’t meet.
It all starts with taste receptors
Sugar is a crucial energy source for all animals, including humans. As a result, we've evolved specialized neural circuits to acknowledge and hunt down sugar, and these start within the mouth.
The tongue has specific taste receptors to detect sweetness. These are activated by sugar, and that they send signals to the brain.
Interestingly, though, animals can develop strong cravings for sugar, albeit they lack the taste receptors for it, because the authors of this study means .
What’s more, they report, if animals without sweet taste receptors are given two drinks, one sweetened with sugar and therefore the other with artificial sweetener, they still choose the sugary drink — despite being unable to taste either.
This suggests that the body may recognize sugar in another area, perhaps further down the digestive pathway.
To investigate, the researchers, from Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute, began to seem for these additional receptors in mice.
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