4 ms·

Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine

7 points by mustapha 13y ago

holograham 13y ago
There have been plenty of studies that link salty, fatty foods to brain activity (highs) similar to addicts. Anecdotal explanations usually trend around our brains rewarding us for finding and gorging on life sustaining calories as a leftover attribute from earlier humans who lived when food was scarce.
brokenparser 13y ago
Where's the hack?
berdon 13y ago
I'd be interested in a follow-up with oreos pitted against cocaine/morphine/etc. It's believable sugar would be more attractive and great to have supporting data but I'm not sure this substantiates oreos equalling cocaine.
- vinceguidry 13y ago
  You should read the "Rat Park" experiment.
mayanksinghal 13y ago
"New study confirms Oreos are basically the cookie form of cocaine" is misleading (and not the original title "Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine") Anyway, the comparisons performed in the quoted study: preference over plain rice and amount of time spent in Oreo region (vs Morphine/Cocaine etc) seems a shaky correlation at best. Does addictiveness necessarily require withdrawal symptoms? If yes, the study seems to lack it any mention of it [1]. [1] http://www.conncoll.edu/news/news-archive/2013/student-faculty-research-shows-oreos-are-just-as-addictive-as-drugs-in-lab-rats-.htm#.Ul94MWQ0Ah3 http://www.conncoll.edu/news/news-archive/2013/student-facul...
simonster 13y ago
There is no peer review here. There isn't even an article. There is just a poster someone is going to present at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in a month [1] and a press release with a ridiculous headline. To put things in perspective, there are approximately 10,000 posters at SfN, and a large proportion of them never lead to a published paper. [1] "Nucleus accumbens C-Fos expression is correlated with conditioned place preference to cocaine, morphine and high fat/sugar food consumption" http://www.abstractsonline.com/Plan/ViewAbstract.aspx?sKey=20f88330-614a-445a-9037-4471e59c1d45&cKey=8e1870d1-fb19-4826-9571-b970acd6c869&mKey={8D2A5BEC-4825-4CD6-9439-B42BB151D1CF} http://www.abstractsonline.com/Plan/ViewAbstract.aspx?sKey=2... for the abstract, although this link will probably break
lolwutf 13y ago
Lab rats routinely pick sugar over cocaine. Nothing to see here.
bitboxer 13y ago
See this awesome comic for an explanation: http://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comics_en/rat-park/ http://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comics_en/rat-park/
glenra 13y ago
A better way to phrase that experimental result would have been "Cocaine And Heroin No More Addictive Than Oreos".

7 points by mustapha 13y ago

There have been plenty of studies that link salty, fatty foods to brain activity (highs) similar to addicts. Anecdotal explanations usually trend around our brains rewarding us for finding and gorging on life sustaining calories as a leftover attribute from earlier humans who lived when food was scarce.

brokenparser 13y ago

Where's the hack?

berdon 13y ago

I'd be interested in a follow-up with oreos pitted against cocaine/morphine/etc. It's believable sugar would be more attractive and great to have supporting data but I'm not sure this substantiates oreos equalling cocaine.

vinceguidry 13y ago
You should read the "Rat Park" experiment.

mayanksinghal 13y ago

"New study confirms Oreos are basically the cookie form of cocaine" is misleading (and not the original title "Oreos May Be As Addictive As Cocaine") Anyway, the comparisons performed in the quoted study: preference over plain rice and amount of time spent in Oreo region (vs Morphine/Cocaine etc) seems a shaky correlation at best. Does addictiveness necessarily require withdrawal symptoms? If yes, the study seems to lack it any mention of it [1]. [1] http://www.conncoll.edu/news/news-archive/2013/student-faculty-research-shows-oreos-are-just-as-addictive-as-drugs-in-lab-rats-.htm#.Ul94MWQ0Ah3 http://www.conncoll.edu/news/news-archive/2013/student-facul...

simonster 13y ago

There is no peer review here. There isn't even an article. There is just a poster someone is going to present at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in a month [1] and a press release with a ridiculous headline. To put things in perspective, there are approximately 10,000 posters at SfN, and a large proportion of them never lead to a published paper. [1] "Nucleus accumbens C-Fos expression is correlated with conditioned place preference to cocaine, morphine and high fat/sugar food consumption" http://www.abstractsonline.com/Plan/ViewAbstract.aspx?sKey=20f88330-614a-445a-9037-4471e59c1d45&cKey=8e1870d1-fb19-4826-9571-b970acd6c869&mKey={8D2A5BEC-4825-4CD6-9439-B42BB151D1CF} http://www.abstractsonline.com/Plan/ViewAbstract.aspx?sKey=2... for the abstract, although this link will probably break

lolwutf 13y ago

Lab rats routinely pick sugar over cocaine. Nothing to see here.

bitboxer 13y ago

See this awesome comic for an explanation: http://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comics_en/rat-park/ http://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comics_en/rat-park/

glenra 13y ago

A better way to phrase that experimental result would have been "Cocaine And Heroin No More Addictive Than Oreos".