Cookie Or Spam

Oh my....they are saying that one of the world's great cookies, Oreos, is as addictive as cocaine. Well, one of "them", those researchers that keep telling us what we should and should not do, a Connecticut College Neuroscience major Jamie Honohan came up with the idea for a study, which dug into the effects of high fat and high sugar foods on the brain. The conclusions gleaned after watching the rats scurry toward those double stuff Oreos was that the brain goes wilder for Oreos than for drugs, and that the two are equally addictive (at least when it comes to rats).

There's more attacks on the Oreo too! Another student went measured the expression of the protein c-Fos in the brain's "pleasure center," and found that "significantly" more neurons were activated in response to Oreos than in response to drugs. In plain language the rodents like Oreos as much as humans. I doubt cocaine addicts could be treated with an Oreo diet as a replacement for cocaine, but the love of Oreos and so much other junk food might explain why we are so fat these days. I guess we shouldn't worry too much until we see users shoving Oreos up their noses.

So, Oreos are as addictive as cocaine, at least for lab rats, and just like us. They also like that creamy chemical filling center best. I wonder if the rats would like Tofu as much?  Why not put tofu on one side, Oreos on another and cocaine the last. Let's see what those rats like. Perhaps peanut butter vs. Oreos! If Oreos are truly addicting, rats will continue to seek them out. I suspect the rats are as finicky as the human 4 legged rats we are. Some will like  Oreos best and some the other choice.

We already know that high fat, high sugar foods are addictive. But I think that some addictions, like the one to fast food treats, might be harmless ones, surely more than is addiction to cocaine. Humans need to some addictions. It's part of the human persona. Harmless ones, like eating too many Oreos, distract us from the harmful ones....like cell phone addiction (I had to make that comment).  Long live the Oreo!