This is the important field of nutrigenomics. This means that nutrients have a powerful ability to modify the expression of your genes.
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There are also some promising studies of nutraceuticals( iii) that can modulate dopamine receptor function and appetite regulation.( iv) Bruce Ames, PhD found that high levels nutrients can reduce disease in people with 50 different gene variants, nutrients may modulate the function of our genes, improve their function, or affect the activity of enzymes that genes produce.( v) In fact, one third of our entire DNA has one simple job: To code for and produce enzymes controlled by nutrient co-factors. That is why children who take stimulant ADHD drugs (which are actually just fancy amphetamines) that stimulate dopamine receptors have trouble gaining enough weight as they grow. We also know that amphetamines are natural appetite suppressants and reduce cravings. When they took this drug, which prevented them from getting the temporary high from sugar, they craved less and ate less. In one study, naltrexone, an opioid blocker (blocks the effects of heroin and morphine on the brain) was used in sugar addicts. Some studies have pointed to drugs or nutrients that can modulate this defective dopamine reward response. Those who have sugar addiction, it seems have fewer D2 dopamine receptors and they need extra stimulation to make them “turn on”.( i)įunctional MRI studies of teenagers, both lean and obese, found that the obese teenagers whose brains didn’t light up as much in the dopamine reward centers were more likely to be obese and gain weight later.( ii) They also were more likely to have the DRD2 gene that coded for fewer receptors. The only problem is it appears that those with sugar addictions, compulsive eating, and obesity have DRD2 systems that need much more stimulation to feel pleasure. Sugar and other stimulating addictions increase dopamine in the short term. The amino acid dopamine triggers this response. In our brain, a little receptor, the dopamine receptor D2 or DRD2 for short, must be activated or switched on for us to feel pleasure. In fact, it may be that addicts of all stripes are simply unlucky and born with unfortunate genetic variations in our reward and pleasure mechanisms.ĭespite being stuck with the sugar addiction low pleasure gene, you may be able to modify its activity by modulating your brain chemistry and receptor function with the use of specific nutrients. We often see these as moral failures or results of character defects.
Some us need a lot more stimulation to feel pleasure driving us to a range of addictive pleasures that stimulate our reward center in the brain – drug and alcohol addictions, compulsive gambling, sex addiction and, of course, sugar, food addiction and compulsive eating. It seems that we all vary a bit in our capacity for pleasure. In fact, most recovering alcoholics often switch to another easily available drug: sugar. Bingeing and addictive behaviors are eerily similar in alcoholics and sugar addicts.
I have observed this in my patients, but now it is becoming clear why some have more trouble kicking the sugar habit than others.Īs I reviewed in my previous article on food addiction, the science demonstrating that people can be biologically addicted to sugar in the same way we can be addicted to heroin, cocaine or nicotine is clear.
New research shows some are genetically much more prone to sugar and food addiction than others. This article originally appeared on We are all programmed to like sugar. How Social Networks Control Your Health.
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