Oh, sugar. You can hardly go a few steps in a grocery store without encountering some kind of processed food laden with sugar. And the tricky part is, sugar is hardly an explicit category anymore. It goes by the names of high fructose corn syrup, agave nectar, lactose, brown sugar, maltodextrin, honey, fruit juice, and many more. It is well known that food distributors will do anything to cover up food ingredients that give doubts to the consumer. Labeling does make it difficult to tell whether a food product is really healthy or not, but that’s another story.

Many recovered alcoholics find that in later years, they have another addiction to overcome: sugar. It’s not known for certain what the direct relationship is between sugar and alcohol, but it is known that sugar can provide effects that are similar to a drug. After all, consuming it does momentarily produce a decent amount of dopamine, the good-feeling chemical—the same chemical that is produced in the brain when you take a shot of heroin, or do other kinds of drugs, or drink alcohol (though the dopamine is produced in varying amounts).

Alcoholic beverages can be chock-full of sugar. It becomes a little overwhelming to consider just how much sugar you’d been consuming in the years of addiction. When restaurants and bars will pack their drinks full of sugar, it’s difficult to keep track.

“The American Heart Association advises…no more than 100 calories a day for most women and no more than 150 calories a day for most men. That’s about 6 teaspoons of sugar for women and 9 for men. One teaspoon of sugar has about 16 calories.”

While clear alcohol like vodka or gin doesn’t have any caloric content, cocktails like a piña colada or daiquiri hold a great deal of sugar. So if you’re throwing back more than just one, you’re likely going over the recommended daily caloric limit. Yet, the calories in alcohol can be considered empty calories that must be immediately metabolized in the body. So if you’ve been drinking sugar in the form of alcohol mixers, your body will hold onto those sugar calories, thus making them more difficult to digest, and potentially making you hold onto excess weight.

So, what’s the takeaway?

Alcohol and sugar are related in the realm of addictive substances. Since excess sugar can have an effect on the brain that is similar to alcohol and other drugs, it’s crucial to not turn to sugar, as it can be addictive, and detrimental to your health as well.