Suiker in perspectief editie 48 | mei 2020

6| Suiker in perspectief, mei 2020 Biology is hijacked by an addictive substance, but not by sugar PROF.DR. DAVID BENTON, PROFESSOR IN PSYCHOLOGY AT SWANSEA UNIVERSITY IN WALES, UNITED KINGDOM Both addictive substances and food products release dopamine in the reward pathways of the brain. With food it is a normal biological mechanism, but this mechanism can be hijacked by an addictive substance like heroin. Regularly a message about sugar addiction pops up in the media. Prof.dr. David Benton regards the term ‘addiction’ as a word with many meanings and all definitions are arbitrary. Benton: “For many, the term suggests that we are dealing with an addiction to a substance like heroin and that both sugar and heroin use the same mechanism. This suggestion is incorrect: the responses to a food ingredient, inclu- ding sugar, and heroin differ.” Biology is hijacked by an addictive substance, but not by sugar