ARE OREOS AS ADDICTIVE AS COCAINE?

Scientists claim to have finally figured out why most people cannot get enough of Oreos. Long story short, they say that, according to evidence at hand, these chocolate cookies are as addictive as cocaine. The chocolate cookies have been found to trigger the same neurons in the brain's 'pleasure centre' as the outlawed drug during extensive lab testing on rats.

While the study was done in rats, the authors say it’s likely relevant to humans as well, and could explain why people have such a hard time resisting eating an entire sleeve of the cookies. As well as finding that, like humans, rats prefer to eat the cream part of their Oreo first, scientists also saw similarities between the levels of addiction in 'Oreo rats' and their cocaine hooked cousins.

To arrive at the conclusion, Connecticut College professor Joseph Schroeder, who led the research, placed rats in a maze which had two routes to different treats.
One on side, they placed rice cakes and on the other they placed Oreos. After the animals had explored the maze fully, they were then left to choose which treat they would prefer to stay at.
Speaking of his findings, Schroeder said: 'Just like humans, rats don’t seem to get much pleasure out of eating rice cakes.'
The results, which showed the rodents had a strong preference for the chocolate treat, were compared to those of an identical test involving drugs. One on side of the maze, the rats would be given an injection of saline while on the other they were given a dose of cocaine or morphine.
According to Schroeder, the rats in the Oreo experiment spent as much time hanging around their Oreo zone in the food test as they did the cocaine zone in the drug test, showing similar levels of addiction.

These behavioral data aren’t so surprising, but the researchers also reported some interesting neurological results. When rats were given Oreos, a protein called c-Fos was expressed strongly in an area of the brain called the nucleus accumbens, which is well known to be active in pleasure and addiction. “It basically tells us how many cells were turned on in a specific region of the brain in response to the drugs or Oreos,” said Schroeder. Oreos actually activated cells in this brain area more than did either cocaine or morphine, which suggests that that magical combination of sugar and fat may be even more delectable to our brains than drugs.
“Our research supports the theory that high-fat/high-sugar foods stimulate the brain in the same way that drugs do,” Schroeder said. “It may explain why some people can’t resist these foods despite the fact that they know they are bad for them.”

The research may therefore bear some relevance to human public health issues – namely the fact that high-calorie foods are often low-priced and highly addictive. And the fallout from poor eating behaviors can be as dramatic as that from drugs, said the authors. “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,” said another author on the study, Jamie Honohan. “We chose Oreos not only because they are America’s favorite cookie, and highly palatable to rats, but also because products containing high amounts of fat and sugar are heavily marketed in communities with lower socioeconomic statuses.”

Need to curb an Oreo craving?
If you have a busy life and you don't have time to bake your treats, try these healthy store-bought cookies.

Because of the quality of their products, Joseph's Cookies has won numerous awards. These include:

• The American Taste Award;
• Superior Product Award;
• NFDA All-Natural Product;
• FDM All-Natural Award;
• Sugar-Free Award;
• Healthy Product Award;
• The Quality Hero Award;
• Senate Productivity Award;
• Governors Viva Award;
• Blue Chip Award;
• The Best Sugar-Free Cookie of the year 2002; and
• Grocery Product of the Month.

They also received the prestigious American Success Award presented by President George Bush at The White House Rose Garden.


If you have chance to grab an apron and you're willing to try a new recipe, you don't need to be a pastry Chef to prepare these 

chocolate coconut meringues - 36 cal. per cookie!!!

Makes: 30 cookies
Active Time: 25 minutes - Total Time: 3 hours

Ingredients

• 4 large egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon coconut extract or imitation coconut extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips or finely chopped chocolate
• 2 tablespoons trans-fat-free white chocolate chips or finely chopped white chocolate, such as Sunspire

Preparation

1. Position racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 250°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats.
2. Beat egg whites, cream of tartar, coconut, almond and vanilla extracts and salt in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until combined. Gradually beat in sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff, shiny peaks form, 6 to 8 minutes.
3. Sift cocoa over the mixture and gently fold together with a rubber spatula until combined.
4. Spoon the meringue into a gallon-size sealable bag (or pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch tip). Seal the bag, pressing out as much air as possible. Cut a 1/2-inch hole in one corner of the bag. Pipe the meringue into 2-inch circles, about 1 inch apart, on the prepared baking sheets.
5. Bake on the upper and lower racks for 50 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the meringues stand in the oven with the door closed until completely dry, about 1 1/2 hours.
6. Melt semisweet and white chocolate (see Tip) and drizzle or pipe onto the cooled meringues. Let stand until it sets.

Tips & Notes

• Make Ahead Tip: Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Some crispness may be lost during storage.

• Kitchen Tips: To melt chocolate, place chocolate in a bowl and microwave on Medium for 45 seconds. Stir; continue microwaving on Medium in 20-second intervals until almost melted, stirring after each interval. Continue stirring until completely melted. Or place in the top of a double boiler over hot, but not boiling, water. Stir until melted.
• To decorate cookies with melted chocolate, use a pastry bag fitted with a fine writing tip to pipe the melted chocolate or dip tines of a fork in chocolate and drizzle. You can improvise a pastry bag with a small plastic bag. Add melted chocolate to the bag, cut a tiny hole in one corner and squeeze the chocolate out.

Nutrition

Per cookie: 36 calories; 0 g fat ( 0 g sat , 0 g mono ); 0 mg cholesterol; 8 g carbohydrates; 1 g protein; 0 g fiber; 17 mg sodium; 25 mg potassium.

Sources: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/, http://www.today.com/health/
Recipe: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/