A study at Connecticut College has made news headlines recently. Researchers there found that lab rats showed a high preference for Oreo cookies, to a degree comparable to preferences rats have shown for drugs like cocaine or morphine. Such headlines as “Why Oreos Are As Addictive As Cocaine To Your Brain” (Forbes) or “Oreos Just As Addictive As Cocaine – To Rats” (UPI) go on to tell the story and results of the study.
Oreos? Really ?
Briefly, the researchers gave rats a choice between Oreos and rice cakes in a compartmented cage, then measured the amount of time the rats spent in each compartment. They compared these results to tests where rats were given a choice between injected saline or injected narcotics such as cocaine or morphine. They found that the amount of time the rats spent on the Oreo side of the cage was equal to the amount they spent on the narcotics side. Researchers also found that the high sugar/high fat Oreos also stimulated pleasure centers in the brain.
While this study, and the ensuing news stories, are interesting from a nutritional point of view, they do terrible damage to the efforts of those of us in the field of addiction treatment. By saying that cocaine is no more addictive than Oreos, the stories minimize the horrible effects that narcotic addiction has on the individual, the family, and society. The news stories create a false equivalent wherein indulging in Oreos is the same as taking narcotics.
While research into nutrition and human eating habits is worthy in its own right, the news media failed all of us by using cheap and easy headlines that neglect the real-world damage narcotics do.
