Cutting the popular belief of diet habits, the scientists in US has come forward with an argument that when the brain doesn’t sense enough gratification from food, people will hog more over the food.
According to Dr Eric Stice, a senior scientist at the Oregon Research Institute, who led the study, the more blunted the response will be, the more are the chances of chances of gain weight. It is the healthy diet and the exercise that decide whether someone is overweight. But scientists have put forward an argument that genes too have a role in deciding obesity. Dopamine, the brain chemical that’s key to sensing pleasure also has a role in deciding the weight of a particular person.

Eating does boost dopamine levels temporarily. The studies have revealed that obese have fewer dopamine receptors in their brains than lean people. A particular gene version, called Taq1A1, is linked to fewer dopamine receptors.

As per the words of Dr. Nora Volkow of the National Institutes of Health, a dopamine specialist who has long studied the obesity link, the functioning of the brain do have a big role in deciding the food and causing obesity. The study by Stice’s team has figured out the immediate reactions of the brain to food.

Brain scanning showed that a key region called the dorsal striatum which is a dopamine-rich pleasure centre becomes active while tasting the milkshake, but not when the comparison liquid mimicked saliva is tasted. The study says that the brain region in overweight people is far less active than in lean people, and in those who carry that A1 gene variant.

This study shows that dopamine is not just about pleasure, but it also plays a role in conditioning and in the ability to control impulses. Now next time, when you are out to buy yummy food, remember, you are going to put weight.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 at 1:34 pm and is filed under Weight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.