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Message: [QUOTE="MCC, post: 1010436, member: 145"] I'm just now reading your post... 60 days after the fact. You're parroting a ridiculous assertion on the part of the press (Connecticut College, then picked up by Forbes). These studies tell us nothing about addiction and these researchers should be lambasted for proselytizing what is utter B.S., no doubt seeking publicity and grant money. Here's the poster from the Soc. for Neurosci. annual meeting: [URL='http://www.abstractsonline.com/plan/ViewAbstract.aspx?mID=3236&sKey=20f88330-614a-445a-9037-4471e59c1d45&cKey=8e1870d1-fb19-4826-9571-b970acd6c869&mKey=8d2a5bec-4825-4cd6-9439-b42bb151d1cf']www.abstractsonline.com/plan/ViewAbstract.aspx?mID=3236&sKey=20f88330-614a-445a-9037-4471e59c1d45&cKey=8e1870d1-fb19-4826-9571-b970acd6c869&mKey=8d2a5bec-4825-4cd6-9439-b42bb151d1cf[/URL]. A very similar paper was recently published by another group in Canada; here's the reference: [URL='http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22340075#']Addict Biol.[/URL] 2013 Sep;18(5):763-73. You can read the abstract here: [url]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22340075[/url]. The only things these studies tell us is that rats like palatable foods. The Canadian group stuck 78 rats in mazes wherein the rodents could select a path to either Oreos (or not) or cocaine (or not). They chose the Oreo path in the Oreo maze as often as the cocaine path in the cocaine maze. They did a bit of biochemistry to look at the increase in a "pleasure" biomarker - cFOS - that they then suggested showed greater "pleasure" from Oreos over cocaine. The Connecticut group performed a similar maze-based study but it remains unpublished. The study lasted 8 days. Does anyone think that addiction to cocaine (or any other drug, really) would yield max dependency in 8 days? Rat brains ≠ human brains. Stimulating pleasure centers ≠ addiction. cFOS is a tired marker for all sorts of processes, one that practically every researcher trots out to say, "Look! My experiments show an increase in cFOS too!". 8 days isn't long enough. 78 rats is too small an N to draw conclusions from. And what about withdrawal - does anyone believe that cessation of Oreo consumption can kill you (severe withdrawal from heroin certainly can)? Apologies for the diatribe - and this isn't meant as an [I]ad hominem[/I] directed at you, CaptainJ - the claims by the scientists here are just ridiculous and indefensible. [/QUOTE]

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