He most likely is aware of the sensation of getting an plentiful meal in a restaurant, and feeling full and glad … simply to check out the dessert menu and determine that the cheese cake seems to be merely irresistible.
So why may you merely not have one other chunk, however one way or the other you make an exception for a candy present? Or like Jerry Sienfeld may put it again within the day “Who’s the cope with dessert?”
Scientists now have a greater understanding of the neuronal origins of this impulse due to a latest examine revealed within the journal Science.
Working with mice, the researchers tried to determine a state of affairs just like the human expertise described above. They began providing a typical meals weight loss plan to mice that had not eaten since the day past. That “meals” interval lasted 90 minutes, and the mice ate till they may not eat extra.
Would you like the newest tales concerning the science of wholesome life? Subscribe to NPR Well being Bulletin.
Then it was time for a interval of “dessert” of 30 minutes. The primary spherical of the experiment, the researchers provided extra chow mice for dessert, and mice ate a bit of extra.
The second time, through the “dessert” interval, they provided a big sugar weight loss plan to the mice for 30 minutes. The mice actually had been for sugary feed, consuming six occasions extra energy than after they had common chow for dessert.
Within the mice, the researchers monitored the exercise of the neurons which can be related to emotions of fullness, known as Pomc neurons. They’re situated in part of the mind known as hypothalamus, which is “essential to advertise satiety,” says Henning Fenselau, one of many authors of the examine and researcher on the Max Planck Institute for the analysis of metabolism in Colonia, Germany.
The scientists discovered that when the mice ate the excessive sugar weight loss plan, the neurons launched beta -endorphine, an endogenous opioid, one generated inside their physique. This chemist connected to opioid receptors within the mind of mice and induced a way of reward.
“After we attempt one thing candy, it’s not simply the sugar we’re consuming, it’s inflicting a system within the mind that associates that candy style with pleasure, which makes us need to proceed consuming,” says Dr. Paule Joseph, a researcher who research metabolism within the Nationwide Institute of Well being and was not related to the examine.
When the workforce blocked this opioid path, the mice remained away from sugar.
The researchers discovered the identical neuronal mechanism in people when learning donated mind tissue and scanning the mind of volunteers, who sat on an FMRI machine and had been fed with a sugar answer by means of a tube.
This led to scientists to conclude, says Fenselau, that in people as in mice “opioid motion on this a part of the mind drives that the consumption of meals containing excessive sugars.”
Fenselau says that the outcomes counsel that individuals’s brains advanced to like extra sugar.
One other investigation has discovered a hyperlink between sugar consumption and dopamine system in our mind; Some investigations even counsel that the sugar impact on the lengthy -term mind will be just like addictive medicine.
The examine on the Max Plank Institute was within the quick time period: the researchers didn’t maintain the weight loss plan over time to see if the mice elevated weight or skilled different metabolic modifications.
Joseph says a observe -up examine, “seeing how these lengthy -term circuits work, significantly with persistent exhibition to sugar,” could possibly be essential to grasp the event of compulsive sugar consumption.
Fenselau says that learning this neuronal reward path may make clear how extreme sugar consumption can contribute to the event of weight problems.
So, may a weight reduction medicine that block the opioid receptors along with the suppression of urge for food be efficient? There may be a type of merchandise available in the market, Naltrexone Bupropion, bought in the USA beneath the Cerave model. It’s a mixture of bupropion, an antidepressant that may additionally suppress urge for food, and opioid blocking naltrexone, which is usually prescribed by itself to deal with habit.
However it’s not as efficient as the most recent medicine of weight reduction equivalent to Ozempic and Wogovy, says Fenselau.
This story initially appeared within the quick wave of NPR. Pay attention right here.
Copyright 2025 NPR