ARE SIMPLE CARBOHYDRATES PHYSIOLOGICALLY ADDICTIVE

Sugar and other carbohydrates are among the things to which it is clai med people can become addicted. A plausible physiological mechanism ha s been put forward to explain 'carbohydrate addiction' and this meshes with the folk psychology of dieting. Review shows evidence for the ph ysiological basis of 'carbohydrate addiction' to be weak compared to d rug addictions. If 'carbohydrate addiction' is a genuine phenomena the n it is probably a habitual dependence based on strong reinforcement, like gambling, rather than a substance-based one.