The same deprivation research paradigm was used by other researchers to test sweet substances other than refined sugar. They found that rats could also become addicted to corn syrup and to artificial sweeteners.31 Interestingly, Serge Ahmed, a scientist at the University of Bordeaux in France, recently used a challenge paradigm to compare the tendency of animals to choose sweet tasting substances (e.g. sucrose, fructose, and saccharine) over cocaine; consistently, the rats, even cocaine addicted rats, chose "sweetness" over cocaine.