2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
Overeating with delicacies and fats in the brain causes the same disorders as when using cocaine or heroin. Getting rid of such an addiction is very difficult.
Delicious and high-calorie food acts on the brain like a drug. This conclusion was reached by scientists from the Scripps Research Institute in Florida. They conducted a series of experiments with laboratory mice.
The researchers implanted in rodents stimulating electrodes in the lateral hypothalamus, an area of the main brain center that is associated with eating behavior. There are the center of hunger and the center of satiety.
The brain's reinforcement system is located in the stem and limbic areas of the brain. It is based on the transmission of nerve impulses with the help of the neurotransmitter dopamine.
It ensures the formation of various types of addictions - drugs, alcohol, etc. The researchers divided the mice into three groups with different diets.
One group ate dry food, the second ate high-calorie food for one hour a day, and the third group ate high-calorie delicacies for five hours a day.
After a month and a half, all the animals were measured. These mice, which ate delicacies for several hours, were the fattest. Those who had limited access to delicious food gained slightly.
They overeat with delicacies, but then did not pay much attention to the usual dry food. From this they did not gain weight. The mice in the first group were found to have altered brain function.
Even after not receiving a tasty meal, the mice, which were abstaining from food, received stimulation of the pleasure center for two more weeks in a row.
According to scientists, overeating tasty and fatty foods reduces the density of dopamine receptors in a special part of the brain, and this reduces the sensitivity of the pleasure system.
The researchers concluded that mice with unrestricted access to goodies get an obsessive craving for food. It could not overcome even punishments, including the release of electricity.
In this respect, humans and mice do not differ. Free access to tasty and high-calorie food, as the inhabitants of civilized countries have, dramatically increases the risk of overeating and obesity.
Overeating and drug addiction are based on the same mechanisms. The only difference is that drugs kill much faster than obesity. But it does affect many more people.
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