Can Obesity Take Away the Pleasure of Eating?
The pleasure we get from eating junk food — the dopamine rush from crunching down on salty, greasy French fries and a luscious burger — is often blamed as the cause of overeating and rising obesity rates in our society. But a new study by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that pleasure in eating, even eating junk food, is key for maintaining a healthy weight in a society that abounds with cheap, high-fat food.
Paradoxically, anecdotal evidence suggests that people with obesity may take less pleasure in eating than those of normal weight. Brain scans of obese individuals show reduced activity in pleasure-related brain regions when presented with food, a pattern also observed in animal studies.
Now, UC Berkeley researchers have identified a possible underlying cause of this phenomenon — a decline in neurotensin, a brain peptide that interacts with the dopamine network — and a potential strategy to restore pleasure in eating in a way that helps reduce overall consumption.
Excerpted from the University of California
