Connecticut Study: Oreos are as Addictive as Cocaine

By Gary Jeanfaivre

This may come as no surprise to Oreo lovers: The cookies are highly addictive.

At least that's the results of a new study by Connecticut College students and their neuroscience professor.

"In a study designed to shed light on the potential addictiveness of high-fat/ high-sugar foods, Professor Joseph Schroeder and his students found rats formed an equally strong association between the pleasurable effects of eating Oreos and a specific environment as they did between cocaine or morphine and a specific environment," the College writes on its website. 

According to that article, the research was the brainchild of neuroscience major Jamie Honohan, ’13. 

It states, "A scholar in the College’s Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy, Honohan was interested in how the prevalence of high-fat and high-sugar foods in low-income neighborhoods contributed to the obesity epidemic."

The CDC reports that "more than one-third of U.S. adults (35.7%) and approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2—19 years are obese."

“Even though we associate significant health hazards in taking drugs like cocaine and morphine, high-fat/ high-sugar foods may present even more of a danger because of their accessibility and affordability,” Honohan said.

The Oreo was first introduced in 1912, according to Wikipedia, and "Milk's

Favorite Cookie" quickly became a best-seller in the United States. 

Today, more than 34 million people like Oreo on Facebook. 

In fact, a 2005 article by Food Processing states, "Oreo worldwide is so popular that if every Oreo cookie ever made (more than 490 billion) were stacked on top of each other, the pile would reach to the moon and back more than six times."

To learn more about the Connecticut College research, the methodology and where they'll be presenting results, check out the article on Connecticut College's website.