Welcome to the blog for Colgate University's interdisciplinary course on food. This is the place to keep up with what students in the course are experiencing in their work at Common Thread Community Farm and through their everyday encounters with food.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Food Cravings


http://jessienextdoor.com/2012/06/18/simple-chocolate-milkshake/
A new study in this article suggests that what really draws people to snacks and treats, and what prompts them to each much more than they should, is not the fat that they contain, but primarily the sugar. This study tracked brain activity in more than 100 high school students as they drank chocolate milkshakes that were identical in calories, but either high in sugar, low in fat, or vice-versa. While both types or milkshakes lit up the pleasure centers in the brain, those that were high in sugar were more effective. Sugar was such a powerful stimulus that overshadowed the fat content, even when the two were combined in large amounts. Sugar therefore is more effective in engaging brain reward regions and drive compulsive intake than fat. 
This study adds to a growing number of brain studies that are providing a better and more complex understanding of what drives people to overeat in the first place. The article states that heavily processed foods loaded with fat and sugar activate and potentially alter the same reward regions in the brain that are hijacked by alcohol and other drugs. While the extent to which these foods provoke additive behavior is debated, these results can help to explain why millions of people that diet and try to lose weight ultimately fail.

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