Can't stop craving salty or sugary foods? Blame the brain
Find it impossible to walk past a chocolate bar on display in a supermarket? Or struggle to ignore the smell of hot French fries in a restaurant?
Well, you are not alone. According to researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research in collaboration with Yale University, foods with high fat and sugar content change our brains, even in small amounts.
"Our measurements of brain activity showed that the brain rewires itself through the consumption of chips and co. It subconsciously learns to prefer rewarding food," explained Marc Tittgemeyer. "Through these changes in the brain, we will unconsciously always prefer the foods that contain a lot of fat and sugar."
For the study, the team gave one group of volunteers a small pudding containing a lot of fat and sugar per day for eight weeks in addition to their normal diet. The other group received a pudding that contained the same number of calories but less fat.
Participants' brain activity was measured before and during the eight-week experiment.
The researchers also reported that the volunteers in the high sugar/fat group didn't gain more weight than those in the control group, while their blood sugar or cholesterol levels weren't altered either. Yet, scientists assume that the preference for sugary foods will continue.
"New connections are made in the brain, and they don't dissolve so quickly. After all, the whole point of learning is that once you learn something, you don't forget it so quickly," he added.
Full study results have been published in Cell Metabolism.
