RATS MORE ADDICTED TO SUGAR THAN COCAINE

LOS ANGELES - Researchers have learned that rats overwhelmingly prefer
water sweetened with saccharin to cocaine, a finding that demonstrates
the addictive potential of sweets.

Offering larger doses of cocaine did not alter the rats' preference
for saccharin.

Scientists said the study, presented this week in San Diego at the
annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, might help explain the
rise in human obesity, which has been driven, in part, by an
overconsumption of sugary foods.

"Intense sweetness is more rewarding to the rats than cocaine," said
co-author Magalie Lenoir of the University of Bordeaux in France.