Cocaine, The New Weight Loss Drug?

In a recent study done on the eating habits of cocaine users, sixty-five males participated. These men were using cocaine at the time of the study and were said to be dependent on the drug. The average use of cocaine among the men was 15.3 year. The men's average starting age was 19.2 years old. There was a control group of healthy volunteers to participate in the study. Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, U.K. took care of the examinations of all the participants. The Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) was a questionnaire that determined the participants eating styles. The questionnaire ranged from restrained, uncontrolled, and emotional eating. The information from the questionnaire was examined by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. The participants also were asked why they consumed cocaine and the most popular answer was "liking the effects" with 51% of the votes.

Ironically none of the participants took the drug to lose weight. The cocaine participants skipped breakfast 86% more than the healthy participants and they also ranked higher on alcohol consumption and calorie intake. The cocaine-dependent participant's diet was 91% fat related and the healthy participants was 94% carbohydrates.

The results concluded that because of the fat related calories that are being consumed, a cocaine-dependent person is more likely to gain weight during cocaine recovery. This study is extremely important to our society. The effects of cocaine need to be taught to the masses. Just because you may take drugs, doesn't mean you will lose the weight. This study had a few limitations. This study only used male cocaine-dependent participants. Using women could have made the results a bit more varied. A more complete understanding could have been gathered by using both genders for the study. Another limitation is the fact that a small number of people were examined. The more people you have to examine the better your understanding will be and the more accurate your results will be for a larger scale.

Abstract

Karen D. Ersche, Jan Stochl, Jeremy M. Woodward, Paul C. Fletcher, The skinny on cocaine: Insights into eating behavior and body weight in cocaine-dependent men, Appetite, Volume 71, 1 December 2013, Pages 75-80, ISSN 0195-6663, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2013.07.011.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666313003401)