How does sugar work as an analgesic and antidepressant?

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So I’ve read about Harvard studies sponsored by sugar lobbies, the nightmares of processed food, and addictiveness of sugar. What I am curious about is an in-depth explanation on why sugar is acts as an analgesic and how it interacts with our pleasure receptors/serotonin. Babies are given a sugar pacifier as a baby following circumcision, but as adults, how significant is the effect? What is the long term relationship between the temporarily antidepressant (or stimulating? not sure how to phrase it?) effects of sugar?

In: Biology

Anonymous 0 Comments

Sugar has a lot of chemical energy and is easily metabolized by our body, so our bodies are hardwired to crave it, and reward us for consuming it.

However, we no longer live in an environment where we’re living meal-to-meal, and instead sugar is ubiquitous and cheap instead of rare in our diet.

This means that our bodies are in a constant state of feasting when we’re consuming a diet laden in sugar, storing those calories as fat and addicting ourselves through the reward feedback our brain is giving us.