We all love sugar, and as more and more products containing high levels of it are being produced, people are consuming larger amounts every day. It's no mystery that too much sugar is bad for you, but has anyone ever stopped to question whether it could be addictive?

An article published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine claims that not only is sugar addictive, but it just as addictive as cocaine, if not more, and it's attracting lots of interest. Written by James J DiNicolantonio, the article raises some credible points.

It mentions how sugar, like cocaine, is refined from plants to produce it in the form of small, white crystals, which is believed to add to it's addictive properties. Moreover, consuming it produces an altered mood, possibly due to it causing pleasure, making consumers seek more of it, an effect caused by both substances.

However, this wasn't enough, so an experiment was needed to back up their hypothesis. In a study, rodents were fed sugar, and sure enough, they soon began to display addictive tendencies. This study was published, and was greeted with mixed feelings, including it's fair share of negativity.

One reader, psychiatrist Hisham Ziauddeen, claims the scientists misunderstood their results; the rodents only display said tendencies when the sugar intake is reserved to two hours a day, so if they were able to eat it at anytime, those tendencies would not be displayed, proving the study wrong.

Perhaps this shows that sugar itself is not the issue, but rather it's the way that we consume it that is causing the real problems.

By manuela Goodman, Dunraven School