Sugar cravings

Sugar cravings are popularly viewed as an intense urge to consume sugary foods or drinks.
This essentially means foods and drinks that either taste sweet to the eater, and/or break down into "sugar," meaning glucose, inside the body during digestion. One example is chocolate.
Accordingly, "sugar cravings" also frequently involve cravings for so called "comfort foods," as well, meaning foods combining a high amount of sugar ('glucose") plus fat ("saturated fat"), though they may not. One example is French fries.
Why Sugar Cravings Happen
Sugar cravings happen in a human being because of a "tug of war" occuring between adipose tissue, or belly fat, in a person, and their brain. Sugar cravings are biochemical in nature, and only in a minority of cases due to eating because of stress.
What Causes Sugar Cravings: Scientific Proof
The consensus scientific view is that sugar cravings cannot be controlled by "willpower" or "self control" in many cases, but instead are biochemical in nature.
=="Greedy Belly Fat" Steals Energy From Brain ==

One expert in the area of belly fat's involvement in sugar cravings is Ping H. Wang, M.D., Professor at the University of California at Irvine. Wang argues that when belly fat gets too large it begins effectively "stealing" energy from the rest of the body. The brain then responds by triggering insulin resistance in order to gain more energy, in the form of glucose, for itself.

With body weight reaching the obese state, a process of chronic inflammation occurs that competes with the brain for glucose. The selfish brain will react by activating a response through the HPA axis, the more while high levels of insulin and leptin will help to shift the balance set point towards allocation of glucose...supports the view that physiological insulin resistance is one of the adaptive regulation mechanisms, which has benefit for survival of the organism by restoring and maintaining the energy balance at the cellular and organism level.
=="Selfish Brain" Responds By Triggering Sugar Cravings==
The human brain, which must have adequate levels of glucose to survive, responds by triggering sugar cravings in order to get emergency energy for itself.
When the brain cannot "pull" energy in the form of glucose from muscles, liver, or fat, the human brain will command a person to find glucose, meaning sugary foods, in their immediate environment, and consume them.
Writes Peters: "If the brain fails to receive sufficient energy from the peripheral body, it compensates for the undersupply by increasing energy uptake from the immediate environment," leaving the body with a surplus.
Thus, a "sugar cravings" episode, or even a "cravings binge" episode, where a person literally seeks out sugary foods or drinks in his environment, and/or "can't seem to help themselves," is essentially the brain embarking on what Peters labels "exploratory behavior":

The brain initiates exploratory behavior when it needs energy but cannot obtain it from the close vicinity. Exploratory behavior is driven by the current metabolic state of the brain, but the brain also learns to initiate exploratory behavior in an anticipatory manner.

A key pioneer in this area of the brain's response in triggering sugar cravings is Achim Peters, M.D., a German obesity specialist and founder of the Selfish Brain Theory.
==Why Sugar and Fat -- "Comfort Foods" -- Are Eaten==
The reason why foods containing high levels of sugar and fat are eaten during "sugar cravings" is addressed by Mary Dallman, Ph.D., a specialist in Brain-Pituitary-Adrenal Interrelationships at the University of California at San Francisco.
Dallman provides proof that when a person has in their bloodstream both a high insulin level, primarily due to being overweight, and high stress hormones, primarily a high cortisol level, they intrinsically seek foods containing sugar and/or sugar plus fat. In other words, "comfort foods."
"Sugary" foods are craved in order for the brain to receive glucose that is effectively being "stolen" by belly fat. A second reason is that glucose exerts a calming effect on a body in stress.
=The "Vicious Cycle" of Sugar Cravings and Belly Fat=
="Willpower" Often Impossible During Sugar Cravings=
Dr. Ping Wang implies that the insulin resistance which precedes sugar cravings phenomenon discussed by Peters and Dallman has nothing to do with "willpower," or a mental issue. Rather, insulin resistance is clearly "biochemical" problem inside the body:

physiological insulin resistance is one of the adaptive regulation mechanisms, which has benefit for survival of the organism by restoring and maintaining the energy balance at the cellular and organism level. In principle it seems a reversible trait...
Controversies
== "Sugar Cravings" Are Really "Sugar Addiction"==
=="Sugar Cravings" Can Be Stopped By "Willpower," "Self-Discipline," or "Visualization"==
Sugar Cravings In Popular Culture
How To Stop Sugar Cravings: Key Lessons

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu