Sugar Addiction and Recovery

Sugar addiction is believed to be like other addictions in that it changes the reward pathways in the brain. The brain, like the rest of the nervous system, transfers messages throughout our bodies. The human brain causes neurotransmitters to bind to certain receptors. These receptors then initiate a biological response in us, such as a muscle movement or an emotion.  When foreign substances, including sugar, enter the brain, they initiate a reaction which is like a high. When a person has abused a foreign substance too much, the brain ceases to produce the neurotransmitters fitting to those receptors. The physical brain itself has changed and will no longer function the way that it originally did. Scientists are still debating whether this happens with sugar, and if it does, whether the process is reversible.