Licorice flavored cocaine, licorice scented cocaine… ah, what?!? Well folks, the title is a bit of a stretch; however, it does elude to an article that Lia mentioned just the other day. I nearly didn’t believe it, so I had to do some digging for myself…
An ingredient in licorice shows promise as an antidote for the toxic effects of cocaine abuse, including deadly overdoses of the highly addictive drug, researchers in Korea and Pennsylvania are reporting.
Pretty wild, huh? Researchers used an animal model to show that isoliquiritigenin (ISL), a licorice ingredient, can block the production of dopamine. Dopamine is stimulated with Cocaine use, which helps to produce pleasurable and addictive effects. Therefore, drugs like ISL that block dopamine, in turn block this addictive response.
Just think of what that means!!! Blocking dopamine… possible alternative treatments for neurological disorders (i.e. Parkinsons disease?)…
On Psychology and Neuroscience 
So Twizzlers may actually be good for you in some cases?!
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if they’re black, perhaps, but those red strawberry flavored ones, well I don’t think they have the potential.
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That is interesting in terms of reward circuitry and dopamine’s role in it. Eating palatable foods typically leads to a release of dopamine (aka pleasure). A study I read a bit ago showed that there may be a decrease in dopamine released in those who are overweight and less activation in the striatum. To make up for the downregulation of dopamine, people eat more. Thus the cycle of obesity. I wonder how these findings could fit into that literature?
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