(Press-News.org) Chocolate bars, crisps and fries - why can't we just ignore them in the supermarket? Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research in Cologne, in collaboration with Yale University, have now shown that foods with a high fat and sugar content change our brain: If we regularly eat even small amounts of them, the brain learns to consume precisely these foods in the future.
Why do we like unhealthy and fattening foods so much? How does this preference develop in the brain? "Our tendency to eat high-fat and high-sugar foods, the so-called Western diet, could be innate or develop as a result of being overweight. But we think that the brain learns this preference," explains Sharmili Edwin Thanarajah, lead author of the study.
To test this hypothesis, the researchers 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. The volunteer’s brain activity was measured before and during the eight weeks.
Our brain unconsciously learns to prefer high-fat snacks
The brain's response to high-fat and high-sugar foods was greatly increased in the group that ate the high-sugar and high-fat pudding after eight weeks. This particularly activated the dopaminergic system, the region in the brain responsible for motivation and reward. "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. Through these changes in the brain, we will unconsciously always prefer the foods that contain a lot of fat and sugar," explains Marc Tittgemeyer, who led the study.
During the study period, the test persons did not gain more weight than the test persons in the control group and their blood values, such as blood sugar or cholesterol, did not change either. However, the researchers assume that the preference for sugary foods will continue after the end of the study. "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," explains Marc Tittgemeyer.
END
Sweets change our brain
Why we can't keep our hands off chocolate bars and co.
2023-03-22
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Study determines most effective ways for hospitals to reduce medication errors
2023-03-22
A new study from researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, has shed new light on the best strategies hospitals can use for medication reconciliation, the critical and difficult task of updating and verifying a patient’s medication lists and orders, regardless of where they are in the health care system. The study, published in BMJ Quality and Safety, is a new analysis of data from the second Multi-center Medication Reconciliation ...
New invention: The oxygen-ion battery
2023-03-22
Lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous today - from electric cars to smartphones. But that does not mean that they are the best solution for all areas of application. TU Wien has now succeeded in developing an oxygen-ion battery that has some important advantages. Although it does not allow for quite as high energy densities as the lithium-ion battery, its storage capacity does not decrease irrevocably over time: it can be regenerated and thus may enable an extremely long service life.
In addition, oxygen-ion batteries can be ...
Europe’s most powerful 7-tesla MRI machine in operation
2023-03-22
On Wednesday, 22 March 2023, at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Europe’s most powerful 7-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine was formally inaugurated. The symbolic push of the button to start the high-performance MRI machine for future research work took place in the presence of the Minister of Science for Saxony-Anhalt, Prof. Dr. Armin Willingmann.
Henceforth, the MAGNETOM Terra.X Impulse Edition will enable brain functions and structures to be mapped and measured on site with a previously unachievable level of precision. “With ...
Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis articles spot drug targets for key pathophysiologies
2023-03-22
As the search for high-quality pharmaceutical drugs continues, researchers also continue spending countless hours discovering the underlying mechanisms of drug action. Knowing various pathophysiological mechanisms dramatically expedites the process of drug discovery. A recent example includes the discovery of the broad-spectrum anti-inflammatory effects of inosine, a nucleoside found in transfer RNAs, by researchers in China. These findings were made available online on 22 October 2022 and subsequently published in Volume 13, Issue 1 of Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis (JPA) on 1st January 2023.
The ...
Performance of OncoK9® in real-world veterinary practice mirrors clinical validation study
2023-03-22
SAN DIEGO, March 22, 2023 — PetDx® – The Liquid Biopsy Company for Pets™ published a study today showing that OncoK9®, its multi-cancer early detection test for dogs using next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology, performs similarly in real-world veterinary practice settings as in the CANcer Detection in Dogs (CANDiD) study, the test’s landmark clinical validation study. Appearing in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the new study examined the clinical experience with 1,500 consecutive blood samples submitted ...
New method shrinks 3D images of cells for faster storage and retrieval
2023-03-22
Single-cell analysis is a powerful biomedical technique used in various fields of biology and medicine to identify rare cell populations, track cell development and differentiation, understand disease mechanisms and develop personalized therapies, but it generates large amounts of data that can be difficult to manage. An international team of researchers led by Demetri Psaltis of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne and Pietro Ferraro of the Institute of Applied Sciences and Intelligent Systems has demonstrated an effective encoding strategy for single-cell tomograms that greatly streamlines ...
Sylvester researchers identify white blood cells called neutrophils as major culprits in treatment resistance of pancreatic cancer
2023-03-22
MIAMI, FLORIDA (EMBARGOED UNTIL WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2023 AT 10 A.M. ET) – Researchers have shown for the first time exactly how immature neutrophils – white blood cells that are an important part of the immune system – are hijacked by pancreatic cancers to drive immunosuppression and treatment resistance. The study, led by investigators at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, is published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
The paper describes a previously unrecognized signaling circuit in pancreatic cancer that instigates immunosuppression ...
Bilayer PET/PVDF substrate-reinforced solid polymer electrolyte improves solid-state lithium metal battery performance
2023-03-22
Effective energy storage is paramount to society’s transition to renewable energy. Lithium metal batteries (LMBs) have the potential to double the amount of energy stored in a single charge compared to current lithium ion batteries (LIBs), but lithium dendrite growth and electrolyte consumption in current LMB technologies are hindering battery performance. Substrates for solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) offer a potential solution to current LMB limitations, but SPEs require their own optimization prior to integration into all-solid-state LMB (ASSLMB) systems.
A ...
Seniors’ use of urinary-tract infection antibiotics halved
2023-03-22
As an international study involving University of Gothenburg researchers has shown, a decision tool for health professionals has proved capable of halving the use of antibiotics against urinary tract infections while maintaining patient safety.
The study, now published in The BMJ, comprises a total of 1,041 frail older people at 38 senior care homes in the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Sweden. A group of researchers at the University of Gothenburg and Region Västra Götaland has been running the Swedish part of the study, ...
New medicine from Norwegian university spin-off extends terminally-ill cancer patients’ lives
2023-03-22
A promising cancer drug that targets only cancer cells has been developed by researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and a university spin-off company, APIM Therapeutics.
NTNU has been responsible for the basic research. APIM Therapeutics has used the basic research to develop the medicine.
It has taken 18 years and more than EUR 20 million.
The medicine has now been tested on 20 cancer patients who were terminally ill. They had tried all available treatments, and as a last resort they opted ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Study tracks chromium chemistry in irradiated molten salts
Scientists: the beautiful game is a silver bullet for global health
Being physically active, even just a couple of days a week, may be key to better health
High-fat diet promote breast cancer metastasis in animal models
A router for photons
Nurses and AI collaborate to save lives, reduce hospital stays
Multi-resistance in bacteria predicted by AI model
Tinker Tots: A citizen science project to explore ethical dilemmas in embryo selection
Sensing sickness
Cost to build multifamily housing in California more than twice as high as in Texas
Program takes aim at drinking, unsafe sex, and sexual assault on college campuses
Inability to pay for healthcare reaches record high in U.S.
Science ‘storytelling’ urgently needed amid climate and biodiversity crisis
KAIST Develops Retinal Therapy to Restore Lost Vision
Adipocyte-hepatocyte signaling mechanism uncovered in endoplasmic reticulum stress response
Mammals were adapting from life in the trees to living on the ground before dinosaur-killing asteroid
Low LDL cholesterol levels linked to reduced risk of dementia
Thickening of the eye’s retina associated with greater risk and severity of postoperative delirium in older patients
Almost one in ten people surveyed report having been harmed by the NHS in the last three years
Enhancing light control with complex frequency excitations
New research finds novel drug target for acute myeloid leukemia, bringing hope for cancer patients
New insight into factors associated with a common disease among dogs and humans
Illuminating single atoms for sustainable propylene production
New study finds Rocky Mountain snow contamination
Study examines lactation in critically ill patients
UVA Engineering Dean Jennifer West earns AIMBE’s 2025 Pierre Galletti Award
Doubling down on metasurfaces
New Cedars-Sinai study shows how specialized diet can improve gut disorders
Making moves and hitting the breaks: Owl journeys surprise researchers in western Montana
PKU Scientists simulate the origin and evolution of the North Atlantic Oscillation
[Press-News.org] Sweets change our brainWhy we can't keep our hands off chocolate bars and co.