Sugar addiction

The misuse of antidepressants may occur when patients diagnose themselves for depression, and their request for a prescription is honored by their physician. In such cases a placebo (sugar pill) might be just as effective. This person is not addicted to the drug, but may be overly concerned with his or her own personal health. 

Powder cocaine (cocaine hydrochloride) can be over 100 times more potent than coca leaves. By adding acids and purifying agents, 22 lbs (10 kg) of coca paste can be refined to 2.2 lbs (1 kg) of powder. This powder approaches 100% purity, but it is diluted with fillers before it is sold on the streets in the United States. Common fillers are cheaper drugs such as amphetamines or sugars such as lactose or inositol. Average street powder purity is 60%. The most common way to use powder is to snort it into the nose, but it can also be dissolved in water and injected into the veins. Powder cocaine cannot be smoked. Powder cocaine is addictive when snorted and highly addictive when injected. 

If you drink coffee on an empty stomach, or drink it black, it s alkalizing to the body. I think coffee addicts repeat this myth to justify their habit. It doesn t matter whether you drink it on an empty stomach or a full one, and it doesn t matter whether you skip the sugar and cream (although these substances do add more acid). Coffee, once metabolized, has an acidic effect on your body. Period. 

Refined sugar, or sucrose, is viewed by some as addictive since its discontinuation produces withdrawal symptoms. In physical appearance, refined sugar looks like heroin, which has caused some talk. Otherwise, the descriptor empty calories is employed, apropos of a lack of nutritional valne. For reasons not publicized, sugar seems to be part of most cookbook recipes, and it is a surefire way to ruin good combread. 

Additionally, Robert N. Proctor has written The Nazi War on Cancer (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1999). Among the items reported is that Nazi scientists were the first to link smoking and cancer. Other policies and discoveries that predated the rest of the world were healthier workplaces, restrictions against asbestos, pesticides, and food additives, as well as improvements in diet and lifestyles. (Nevertheless, there are reports that Hitler was addicted to sugar and sweets.) This contrasts sharply with the unmentionable atrocities of inhuman medical experiments and the death camps. 

As a result, the more often Mary ate sweet or starchy foods, the more intensely she craved them. She had inadvertently created a near-addictive situation in which she literally needed high-sugar, high-carb... 

Ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, is sometimes called grain alcohol because much of it is made by fermentation of sugar or starch in the presence of an enzyme. Consequently, it is found in wines, beers, and hard liquors. The body can tolerate moderate amounts of ethanol, but excessive consumption causes addiction, leading to breakdown of liver tissue (cirrhosis) and brain tissue (delirium tremens), conditions that can be fetal. 

Amfetamine (Fig. 10.15) has structural similarities to noradrenaline. In the form of the free base it is relatively volatile and was thus used as a nasal decongestant through promoting constriction of mucosal blood vessels. It also has appetite-suppressing effects which have been attributed to its ability to displace serotonin from synaptic vesides, but since noradrenaline increases blood sugar levels this may also be part of its action. It is not fre-quendy used because of it potential for being addictive since, because of its high lipophilidty, it can also enter the CNS. Its main indication in current practice is in the treatment of narcolepsy. Amfetamines are discussed in more detail in Chapter 18. 

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