Students and a professor at Connecticut College said they have found evidence that shows Oreo cookies are just as addictive as cocaine… at least in lab rats.
According to their research, eating cookies activate more neurons in the brain’s “pleasure center” than exposure to drugs.
“Our research supports the theory that high-fat/high-sugar foods stimulate the brain in the same way that drugs do,” Schroeder said. “It may explain why some people can’t resist these foods despite the fact that they know they are bad for them.”
The students created a maze, and on one side they would give hungry rats Oreos, and the other side would be a control. In this case, official said, rice cakes were provided for the hungry rats. They would then give the rats the option of spending as much time as they wanted on either side of the maze, and would record how long they spent on the side where they were fed Oreos.
The group then compared the Oreo results with the results from a test in which a group of rats would be given an injection of cocaine or morphine, and the other saline.
The research showed that the rats conditioned with Oreos spent just as much time on that side as the rats injected with cocaine or morphine.
More in-depth research of the project will be presented next month at the Society for Neuroscience conference in San Diego.
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