Do you ever end up craving one thing candy even after a giant meal? Or surprise how you continue to have room for dessert regardless of feeling full? Researchers now counsel that the phenomenon referred to as “dessert abdomen” is linked to the mind.
In a current examine, researchers investigated the phenomenon in mice and located that they ate sugar even after they had been full. Whereas analyzing the brains, they found {that a} group of nerve cells known as POMC neurons triggered the longing for sugar.
When the mice ate sugar, these neurons launched ß-endorphin, a pure opiate that made them really feel rewarded and precipitated them to eat extra, even when they had been full. This impact was particular to sugar, not different meals. When the researchers blocked this pathway, the mice stopped consuming additional sugar, however solely after they had been full. The inhibition of the ß-endorphin didn’t have an effect on the hungry mice.
The researchers additionally discovered that the activation of endorphins started even earlier than the mice began consuming sugar, as quickly as they sensed it. Apparently, the opiate was additionally launched within the brains of mice that had by no means eaten sugar earlier than.
“As quickly as the primary sugar resolution entered the mice’s mouths, ß-endorphin was launched within the “dessert abdomen area”, which was additional strengthened by further sugar consumption,” the researchers defined.
When an analogous trial was performed in people, researchers used mind scans on volunteers after they acquired a sugar resolution by a tube. They discovered that the identical area of the mind responded to sugar in people the place there are various opiate receptors near satiety neurons.
“From an evolutionary perspective, this is sensible: sugar is uncommon in nature however gives fast vitality. The mind is programmed to manage the consumption of sugar each time it’s obtainable,” defined Henning Fenselau, analysis group chief on the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Analysis and head of the examine.
The researchers hope their findings may very well be invaluable for treating weight problems. “There are already medication that block opiate receptors within the mind, however the weight reduction is lower than with appetite-suppressant injections. We imagine {that a} mixture with them or with different therapies may very well be very helpful. Nonetheless, we have to examine this additional,” Fenselau added.
