Culinary brainwashing: Researchers found that people have a mysterious craving for specific foods.

A recent study has revealed that individuals, regardless of their level of obesity, tend to prefer high-calorie foods even when taste and texture are controlled. This challenges several opinions that suggest obesity itself may contribute to a higher intake of calorie-dense foods, reports ScienceDaily.

The research, published in the journal PLOS Biology, was led by Albino Oliveira-Maia from the Champalimaud Foundation in Portugal and his team. Their findings have expanded the existing knowledge about the brain's interaction with food, particularly the impact of energy content on preferences. Eating activates signals in the brain that provide information related to energy, as opposed to taste signals, which play a crucial role in food choice.

In individuals with obesity, this response is more pronounced due to disruptions in dopamine pathways. Such disruptions may fuel a tendency to consume fatty and sugary foods that are high in energy. While bariatric surgery often normalizes these pathways, leading to changes in eating behavior, the exact mechanisms governing these shifts have remained unclear.

In their controlled study, the researchers analyzed three groups: individuals with obesity, patients post-bariatric surgery, and those without obesity. Participants were offered yogurt with identical taste and texture but differing calorie content, supplemented with maltodextrin—a carbohydrate that adds calories. Regardless of their obesity status or surgical history, all groups consumed more of the high-calorie yogurt. This unusual uniformity suggests that energy content may subtly dictate consumption without a conscious alteration of preferences, according to the authors.

To further investigate dopamine receptor activity in the participants' brains, the researchers employed modern imaging techniques, including radioactive iodine labeling and single-photon emission computed tomography. As anticipated, the presence of dopamine receptors was lower in individuals with obesity. However, in those who had undergone bariatric surgery, dopamine levels were comparable to the non-obese group, aligning with observed behavioral changes such as more restrained eating. The researchers expressed great intrigue that, although behavior was directed towards consuming higher-energy yogurts, this was not a result of conscious choice. They highlighted that this behavior persisted in patients post-surgery, reflecting significant yet complex changes in brain chemistry and reward-related feeding mechanisms.

This study clearly demonstrated the intricate relationship between brain chemistry, calorie content, its analysis by the body, and eating behavior.

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