Re: Drugs: The new candy?
research in the last few years has shown that the areas in the brain activated by such addicting substances as nicotine or heroin are pretty much the same (particularly once you become a regular user).
such "addiction pathways" are also similarly activated in the brains of people who regularly consume significant quantities of fat and sugar.
essentially being "addicted" looks (in a brain mri) very much the same regardless of the particular substance. the variability actually lies in the number of doses required to light up this pathway.
...thus i think what you are saying is essentially supported by the research.
as a whole, we tend to underestimate the power of sugar or fat related addiction versus more conventionaly known addicting substances such as nicotine.
....on a side note, deacsoft it seems fairly likely that if you were to give up smoking you would find yourself replacing the nicotine with sugar once again (especially in the absence of other nicotine delivering products).
cheers,
sean
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