Study: Oreo Cookies As Addictive As Cocaine?

Philadelphia (CBS) ­--  A study out of Connecticut College found that Oreo cookies may be as addictive as cocaine.  Well, addicting in rats.

Connecticut College psychology professor Joseph Schroeder and four students studied the addiction with rats.  They tested whether high fat, high sugar foods, such as the Oreo, can be as addictive as drugs of abuse.

The study was created by Connecticut College student Jaime Honohan, a 2013 graduate, who was interested in seeing how high fat and high sugar foods correlate with the obesity epidemic in low income neighborhoods.

The students put hungry rats in a maze.  On one side lied rice cakes and on the other side, Oreos.  This test was compared to a test where rats were injected with saline on one side of the maze and cocaine or morphine on the other side of the maze.

The research showed the rats liked the Oreos just as much as they liked the drug side of the maze.  The research also found that the rats liked the center of the Oreo.

Professor Schroeder will present the findings at the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego next month.

For more on the study, click here.

What are your thoughts?  Leave your comments below.