Do you find yourself reaching for something sweet often? After dinner you’re pulled to the freezer to finish your day off with a nice bowl of ice cream. Or when given the option between a more nutritious food item like carrots, or a packaged, sweet item like a Snickers bar, you choose the latter. This might make you feel guilty, thinking to yourself “why can’t I ever just say no?! Have I no willpower??” Truth is, when it comes to sugar-sweetened, hyper-palatable, high calorie foods, nobody does. Your sweet tooth isn’t your fault, but there are things you can do to gain better control over it.
Primed for Sugar
According to researchers, the idea of a “sweet tooth” is an innate characteristic that had several advantages in the hunter-gatherer days of our ancestors. The sweetness of fruit signaled its lack of toxic properties and its ability to provide energy in the form of glucose (Davis, 2014). During the summer months when fruit was ripe and in abundance, this preference for sweetness compelled our ancestors to load up on fruits. This increase in fructose (sugar found in fruit) caused a spike in blood sugar and insulin, which signaled to the cells to “store” this energy into fat cells to be used in times of low-calorie consumption (like, in the winter). During those times, people who had higher body fat were at an advantage (for survival) than those who were lower in body fat (Wiss et al., 2018). So, having a sweet tooth was a really good thing.
Sugar > Cocaine??
The mechanism behind this preference is the impact that sugar has on our brain’s reward and pleasure centers. The “reward pathway” in the brain is a circuitry that detects and controls responses to rewarding stimuli, or things that we associate with pleasure. This pathway is regulated by the neurotransmitter dopamine. If you’re like me (and our ancestors, obviously), you probably associate a bowl of ice cream with pleasure. That’s because this reward pathway in our brain is stimulated by overconsumption of sugar (Jacques et al., 2019). When we consume sugar in excess, it may result in neuroadaptations in this reward pathway which will increase our motivation to consume more sugar-packed foods in the future (Alonso-Alonso et al., 2015). This is similar to the process by which our brains are impacted by addictive drugs, like cocaine (Wiss et al., 2018). In fact, in one animal study, mice who were given the option of consuming a sugar-rich water or cocaine chose the sugar option most often (Lenoir et al., 2007). Although we are different from mice in many ways, this study helps to point to the fact that sugar has addictive properties in our brains.
When our reward pathways are activated, for example after we’ve consumed a sugary-rich cookie, we are more likely to notice cues that are associated with this rewarding experience so that we can feel this reward again (Alonso-Alonso et al., 2015). This adaptation makes it easier for us to notice the cupcakes in the breakroom, the candy bars in the vending machine, or even the soda ad on TV, and makes it harder to resist the temptation we get to consume those things. The more often we “activate” that system (by consuming sugar-rich foods), the stronger the habits that precede that activation will become (Volkow et al., 2017). This repeated activation can also “erode” the part of the brain necessary for self-regulation, which can make it harder and harder to “stop” those activities (one of the driving mechanisms behind addiction).
Although our food environment has changed since our hunter-gatherer ancestor days (they didn’t have a Costco or a Whole Foods..) our brain chemistry hasn’t. We are still “wired” to eat more when food is in abundance (Wiss eta l., 2018), as our ancestral brain is trying to pack on the pounds for a winter that has yet to come.
Problems with Sugar Consumption & How to Break Free
On average, Americans consume 22 teaspoons of added sugar…per day. If that sounds crazy, it’s because it is. Sugar that once helped our ancestors survive now has been linked to obesity, cancer, inflammation and oxidative stress, chronic diseases, and cognitive impairments such as hippocampal dysfunction, and mood disorders such as depression and anxiety when overconsumed. Not to mention the behavioral consequences that overconsumption of sugar impacts such as loss of self-control and subsequent poor decision making (Jacques et al., 2019). That being said, breaking our sugar addiction is necessary for our overall health and optimal mental performance. Below are some tips to help you curb your sweet tooth.
- Regulate your Environment: your reward pathways have made it easier for you to notice sugar-related cues in your environment, and harder for you to resist the craving to eat these foods. Try your best to regulate the environment that you can control (such as your kitchen!) to avoid these foods.
- Engage in Other Rewarding Behaviors: when you are feeling the “cue” to binge on a sugary treat, try engaging in other dopamine-enhancing activities such as engaging in physical activity, listening to music, or getting some sunshine.
- Be Aware of Hidden Sugars: sugars are hiding everywhere. Check your bread, ketchup, breakfast cereal, healthy energy bars, even some of your spices. It’s likely you’ll find one of sugar’s sly names on the label. If you want to learn all of the names sugar can be hiding behind, check out my Hidden Sugars PDF here.
- Consume Enough Protein: insulin and blood sugar spikes and drops can cause us to crave more carb and sugar rich foods. You’ve probably felt this way when you’ve been reaching for a muffin mid-afternoon when you start to feel a crash after lunch. By eating enough protein with every meal (including breakfast), it can help stabilize the blood sugar swings, regulate insulin, and help to curb your cravings.
So, your sweet tooth isn’t your fault. You don’t have a moral flaw because you can’t steer clear from the cookies, sodas, or ice cream. Your sweet tooth is another thing you’ve inherited (be sure to thank your mom!). Even though it’s “hereditary”, there is something you can do to kick those cravings, and help yourself break your sugar habit. If you’re looking to optimize your mental performance, and improve your overall health, doing so is absolutely crucial. Try out these four tips, and let me know which one works best for you by leaving me a comment! 
References
Alonso-Alonso, M., Woods, S. C., Pelchat, M., Grigson, P. S., Stice, E., Farooqi, S., Khoo, C. S., Mattes, R. D., & Beauchamp, G. K. (2015). Food reward system: current perspectives and future research needs. Nutrition Reviews, 73(5), 296–307. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuv002
Davis, C. (2014). Evolutionary and neuropsychological perspectives on addictive behaviors and addictive substances: relevance to the “food addiction” construct. Substance Abuse and Rehabilitation, 129. https://doi.org/10.2147/sar.s56835
Jacques, A., Chaaya, N., Beecher, K., Ali, S. A., Belmer, A., & Bartlett, S. (2019). The impact of sugar consumption on stress driven, emotional and addictive behaviors. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 103, 178–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.05.021
Lenoir, M., Serre, F., Cantin, L., & Ahmed, S. H. (2007). Intense Sweetness Surpasses Cocaine Reward. PLoS ONE, 2(8), e698. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0000698
Volkow, N. D., Wise, R. A., & Baler, R. (2017). The dopamine motive system: implications for drug and food addiction. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 18(12), 741–752. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn.2017.130
Wiss, D. A., Avena, N., & Rada, P. (2018). Sugar Addiction: From Evolution to Revolution. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00545