Does Sugar Addiction or Chocolate Addiction Really Exist? 

If you feel you have a sugar addiction or a chocolate addiction, you will understand how for some people who suffer from binge eating, their food cravings for sugary foods or chocolate can be so intense, that it feels like being an alcoholic or a drug addict!

If you have read our pages on blood sugars and endorphins, you will already have some idea as to why we may turn to these kinds of food as often as we do. To understand things further, we need to learn a bit about the theory of up- and down-regulation.

As we have seen, substances called neurotransmitters (chemical messengers) interact with receptors in our brains.

Sugar and cocoa (and other things such as alcohol) act upon the endorphin receptors (endorphins are our bodies natural painkillers), and sugar is also necessary for the production of Tryptophan, which works upon our serotonin receptors (serotonin is our bodies natural antidepressant).

Once again, our bodies love balance – so the ideal situation is a good supply of neurotransmitters, and a good amount of receptors in our brain cells.

However, some of us may be naturally low in endorphins or serotonin (or have chronically low levels due to nutritional or medical reasons), which means that the electro-chemical messages may not be getting passed along as efficiently as possible (one theory for depression is chronically low serotonin levels).

So in order to be able to catch as many of the neurotransmitters that are available, our body opens up MORE receptor sites. This is called up-regulation.
 

Then, if we start to eat food that produces a LOT of the particular substance, all those extra receptors are FLOODED and we get a big ‘HIT’ from it…like a sugar buzz, or a chocolate ‘high’ (or maybe just a feeling of hazy ‘numbness’ that helps us to block out painful emotions). These types of feelings can lead people to believe they have a sugar addiction.

BUT – the body is always striving for balance, and too much of anything is as bad as too little. So if we keep flooding those receptors (for instance through repeatedly binge eating on high sugar and fatty foods), then the body will DOWN-REGULATE. It reduces the amount of receptors available in order to regain control and re-address the balance.

However – the way we may experience this (even subconsciously) is that we are not getting the same ‘buzz’ or similar effect from eating that type of food anymore.

For instance, if we have become used to associating chocolate with making us feel better, we might find we now need to eat even more of it to get the same effect – a bit like a drug or alcohol addict needing more of the drug over time to get the same ‘high’.

Say then we have become fed up with our perceived sugar addiction because of all the weight gain that results, and we decide to go on a strict diet. We abruptly cut out all those ‘forbidden’ foods, which means the supply of those substances that our brain has become used to will suddenly be drastically reduced.

We now have a down-regulated system with fewer receptors AND a low supply of chemical messengers. Our brains suddenly aren’t getting enough signals at all, and we may experience side effects such as irritability, depression, anxiety and possibly INTENSE FOOD CRAVINGS. In other words - WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS!

If this reduction in supply continues (for instance due to our restrictive diet) then the system will UP-REGULATE again. So then……if (or more likely when!) we ‘break our diet’ and we start binge eating on our ‘forbidden foods’ again……BIG HIT once more!

Now, I’m not a scientist so I’m sure I’m over simplifying things here, but the theory does help to explain how we may feel that our sugar addiction or chocolate addiction feel SO very real.

But unlike alcohol and drug addictions where we need to ‘swear off’ the substance completely, we cannot avoid food altogether! And as any carbohydrate foods are broken down into sugar by our digestive system, avoiding sugar is completely impossible anyway!

SO WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE US?

Basically, its back to good old fashioned healthy eating spaced regularly throughout the day, as discussed on our blood sugar page.

Gradually reducing refined carbohydrates and sugary foods in the diet, and replacing them with complex carbohydrate foods that provide a slow release of energy should help minimise any feelings of withdrawal.

Optimising nutrition in other ways is important, as is getting plenty of sources of natural endorphins into our lifestyles.

Along with this of course is the important psychological work addressing any underlying emotional issues, helping to build self-confidence and self esteem. And learning some practical skills around problem solving, habit busting and learning flexibility are useful.

This type of holistic treatment involving behavioural, nutritional and psychological approaches to eating problems, such as binge eating, and sugar addiction is the best answer.

Please see our Binge Eating Treatment pages for more information.