Avena, N., Rada, P. and Hoebel, B. G. (2008). Evidence for Sugar Addiction: Behavioral and Neurochemical Effects of Intermittent, Excessive Sugar Intake. Neuroscience Biobehavioral Review, 32(1): 20-39.
The nervous system evolves to motivate and reinforces an individual to subconsciously eat sweet foods and other foods that may trigger such addictive behavior similar to that of alcohol addiction. In this research, Avena and colleagues attempt to find whether or not sugar should be included in the ranks of heroin and cocaine that could also lead to a natural form of addiction. Avena and colleagues contend that food addiction may be a plausible explanation to explain how the brain pathways evolved in response to natural reinforcements that are activated in the same vein that pathways for narcotics are also activated. ...