In the last decade, research has revealed a clear pattern. This may be one reason they are associated with weight gain and obesity.
What is not clear why We are easy to overeat.
Dr. Robert Calif, a former member of the Food and Drug Administration, said December Senate Hearing: “This food is probably addictive,” he added. He added that it can act on the same brain paths related to addiction to opioids and other drugs.
Ashley Gearhardt, an addiction researcher at the University of Michigan, said the concept is controversial in the last eight years. She explained that in the 2017 Council of Science, she suggested that some ultrasound foods could be an addictive substance. She now said more researchers have begun to find this idea.
But the main question still remains. How do you prove?
no way Study published on TuesdayThe biggest type was a big swing in this mystery. But the result was more questioned than the answer. We know so far.
Can food give dopamine hits like drugs?
One way is to study addiction. Addiction is to see the brain level of neurotransmitter dopamine. Dana Small, a cognitive neuroscientist at McGill University in Montreal, said the brain releases chemicals. If you know and like food, she can cause an increase in dopamine just by thinking or seeing, and reminds me that it is a good fuel source and stimulates them to eat more.
Addictive drugs use this survival system jointly by causing a greater surge in dopamine and leading people to use it repeatedly, SMALL said.
The researchers wondered if ultra -fine foods, especially foods with high fat and sugar, could have a large dopamine reaction, which could be addictive in the same way as drugs. Past studies on rodents Humans have supported this ideaBut human experiments did Very small.
In a new study, scientists from the National Institute of Health have measured how people’s brains react to drinking high -fat fine milk shakes.
They found that more than half of the participants had a small dopamine increase after drinking shakes, but the rest had been reduced or no change. The researchers concluded that there was no statistical difference in brain dopamine levels before and after drinking shakes.
The authors wrote that these results argue that the ultra -fine food causes dopamine surge in a brain similar to addictive drugs, causing overeating.
However, there is an important warning, which measures the level of brain dopamine with a PET scan, which is commonly used for drug addiction studies. This scan cannot measure small dopamine changes very well. Milk shakes are likely to have dopamin reactions to more participants, and the scan would not have detected Kevin Hall and Valerie Darcey, the main authors of research, a nutritional and metabolic scientist in NIH.
Some drugs, such as cocaine and amphetamine, are obvious in PET scans, but for others, dramatic rapidly rapidly rapid drugs of drama people. nicotine or OpioideAlexandra Difeliceanio, a neurological scientist of Virginia Tech, who is not involved in this study, said that dopamine reactions are small and not always detected.
Dopamine ‘Respondents’ can enjoy a pleasant food.
Dr. Small was most interested in new research participants who had a slight increase in dopamine after drinking shakes. The “respondents”, which the researchers sang, said that the shakes were more enjoyable and wanted more than other participants.
A few days after the brain scan, the researchers found that the “respondents” ate almost twice the chips! Like other participants, cookies at buffet lunch.
This tracks with past research nicotine and OpioideDr. Gearhardt said. Those who have a surge in measurable dopamine after using the drug tend to find them more enjoyable and want more than those who do not.
External researchers praised the scale and strict new research. But they and major authors say that the main results seem to suggest that ultra -fine food may not be addictive, but it is not the end of the story. Researchers said, “It is more complicated than we originally thought.
There is a debate about the word ‘addictive’.
Dr. Small said the question about food addiction is “very big minefield.”
She said in any way, food should be addictive. The fact that we are attracted to calories, sugar, and fat, we guarantee our survival as our species. “There is no problem with it,” she said.
Dr. Small says that this survival mechanism is highly flavorful, and it may not help us in an environment full of ultra -fine foods that are highly sold and convenient. She hesitates to indicate the category as addictive. Because we tend to overeat, including that we are packed in calories and at least we can eat faster than processed foods.
Dr. Difeliceantonio, on the other hand, says that some ultrasonic foods may be addictive, citing a method of stimulating the “reward” system of the brain, similar to addictive drugs. She is designed to perform this work, and is often tempting and often High level of fat and sugar It is quickly absorbed into the intestines.
Brain measurements, such as the PET scan used in new studies, are one way to understand poisoning, but Dr. Difeliceantonio added.
In the past, when scientists judged that substances such as nicotine and opioid were addictive, they looked at how they influenced people’s actions, Dr. Gearhardt said.
“It was not a magic brain research to convince people.” Cigarettes were addictiveShe said. People could not stop smoking after harming their health. Dr. Gearhardt said, “This was a pipe nail.
Dr. Gearhardt and her colleagues have developed a criterion to evaluate whether there are symptoms of food addiction that is difficult for people to see about addictive materials. big 2021 Review A study using this metrics shows that 14 %of the 19,000 people have met food addiction standards.
Dr. Gearhardt said at the end of the day, when people said they were addicted to minor food, they should believe in people. “The evidence is in pudding,” she said. “People want to stop, but they can’t do it.”
