Middle Medicine

Sugar Proven Addiction

From: http://tinyurl.com/a3bbja

It would be so nice to read a headline on a study like this that goes, “Scientists confirm what we all knew”. It would lead to such a different perception of the process.

As it stands, it seems to me that we give up our self-awareness to studies like this, simply by accepting that this kind of research “needs” to be done.

In all honesty, anyone with a smidgen of self-awareness knows that a human being can become addicted to anything.

Sugar? Well, absolutely.

So what’s the research for?

To find what particular pathways are affected.

To what end?

To help people come off their addiction. Ok, stop. Is sugar addiction really that strong? Are we so weak that we can no longer fight against pasta, bread, glucose-supplemented fruit juices and chocolate? There seems to be a slippery slope here somewhere… I am sure that someone, somewhere, has commented on the medicalisation of the human condition – “Why you’ve been hopelessly afflicted with the Human Condition? Egads, good thing we have a drug for that. Several actually…take a seat – they’re still experimental… but you’ll be helping us clear the path… good man”.

Maybe the benefits are in the spin-off research – if we study the pathways of sugar addiction we’ll find the cure to alzheimers. Or an anti-diabetes drug (or the solution for global warming!). All well and good when we put it that way…but isn’t a major issue for most diabetics “managing” sugar effectively? See my diabetes post for a discussion on this topic.

In any case, the idea is regarding the usefulness of research – something that is greatly critiqued in the bioethics community:

This is […] to note that much of the scientific literature – perhaps especially the biomedical literature – is as much about waving arms as it is about communicating results. This is a vulgar glut that pollutes the scientific corpus. (Goodman 2003)

I hope that the next time we see a research article that seems to proclaim a re-invention of the wheel, we will stop and realise that in science, like in any other profession, there are factors at play which are very human in nature. See if the article says something really useful, and otherwise maintain a healthy skepticism – which, by the way, does not take a particular stance, other than to question until clarity occurs.