Sugar has a strong effect on our brain, but not strong enough to be classified as addictive.
This is according to Han de Jong, who earned his PhD at Utrecht University with research on sugar addiction.
De Jong found that the brain’s reward system is stimulated by sugar — which is why people enjoy eating sweet foods.
However, consuming sugar does not alter the brain in the way that truly addictive substances do.
The effect of sugar was tested by De Jong, among other things, on rats. The tests showed that the rats were not willing to go as far for a sugar reward as they would for a drug reward.
This leads to the conclusion that the brain’s response to sugar and its potential for addiction is much weaker than for other substances.