There's a Sweet, Sugary Monkey On Your Back

New research suggests Oreos are as addictive as cocaine. To cookie lovers (i.e. all of America) that comes as no surprise.

A group of Connecticut College students and their psychology professor conducted controlled lab experiments on rats, recording the areas of the brain an Oreo stimulated. It turns out that the cookie activates the same rate of neurons as cocaine or morphine in the area of the brain associated with pleasure.

To test the addictiveness of the cookie, they put hungry rats in a maze, with Oreos one one side and tasteless rice cakes on the other. Then they recorded how long the rats would spend on either side.

The same experiment was conducted with cocaine and morphine. Rats on one side were given a shot of cocaine, and on the other a shot of saline. The result was that the tweaked-out rats would spend as much time in the cocaine side of the maze as the oreo-loving rats.

What does this all mean? It means that you can rejoice, America! It’s not just your fault alone when you find your grubby paws grasping at the last crumbs at the end of the cookie sleeve.

More research will be conducted to further show how high-fat foods stimulate the brain the same way drugs do. Maybe Chips Ahoy for the next one?