Who doesn’t know: after a rich food you suddenly feel a appetite for something sweet. The reason: the same nerve cells that cause the feeling of saturation also play a role in why we want to have a sweet for candy after a meal.
An international research team led by the Cologne Max Planck Institute for Metabolic Research has investigated the scientific basis for this. The results show that the such “dessert stomach” is anchored in the brain.
In the study, the researchers around Henning Fenselau investigated the reaction of mice to sugar. They discovered that mice also eat desserts when they are completely saturated, as the team writes in the ‘science’ magazine. The brain investigations showed that a certain group of nerve cells (POMC neurons) is responsible for this.
Feeling of reward through candy
When mice are full and sweet food, these nerve cells not only pour out messenger substances that saturation signal, but also the specific to a body (ß-endorphine). This leads to a sense of reward so that the animals eat even more sugar. In the experiments, the mechanism started when the animals only observed sugar without eating them.
Brain tests on test subjects showed that the same brain area responds to sugar in humans. From an evolutionary point of view, this makes sense: sugar is rare in nature, but quickly provides energy. The brain is programmed in such a way that it controls sugar absorption when it is available.
Therapy option in overweight
The results can be important for the treatment of overweight. There are already medicines that block opiate receptors in the brain. But weight loss is less than with weight loss injections.
Source: Krone
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