In a 2007 experiment, researchers at the University of Bordeaux offered laboratory rats a choice between cocaine and sweetened water. An astonishing 94% chose the sweetness. Increasing the cocaine dose didn't change their minds. Neither did making the sweet water harder to obtain. Even rats whose cocaine consumption had tripled after weeks of heavy use abandoned the drug in favor of a few drops of sweet water. And it wasn't just artificial sweeteners—rats showed the same preference when offered real sugar.

So is sugar more addictive than cocaine? Not exactly. The experiment measured which reward rats preferred, not whether sugar produces addiction comparable to cocaine. But the results are no less remarkable. The authors suggest that our taste for sweetness evolved in an environment where sugar was scarce, leaving us poorly equipped for the intensely sweet foods now available everywhere. If rats with an established history of heavy cocaine use overwhelmingly choose sweetness instead, what does that tell us about the modern food supply?

https://letsstartwiththetruth.substack.com/p/keep-your-cocaine