Willing to 'Kill' for Some Cheesecake?
August 12, 2007 11:13 AM
By Susan Parsons MD
If you have ever tried to make your diet healthier, you probably found that it wasn’t easy. You suddenly had cravings for junk food and homemade treats you knew you shouldn’t eat. In fact, you may have abandoned your new way of eating entirely because it was just too difficult to make the change.
If you have been known to go to great lengths for a pizza or a brownie, you recognize that avoiding comfort foods when on a diet is often anxiety-provoking. Apparently it’s no picnic for research mice either!
In a report recently published in Biological Psychiatry, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania described an interesting study. Mice were initially fed chow high in either fat or carbohydrates, to the point that they became accustomed to these rodent versions of the Standard American Diet (SAD). Then, their usual food was abruptly replaced with standard chow.
The mice became anxious and showed signs of stress. Their brains contained elevated stress hormones such as CRF (corticotrophin releasing factor), which triggers the adrenal glands to produce more epinephrine (adrenalin) and cortisol.
The agitated study animals were willing to go to great lengths to find food more to their liking. They braved adverse environmental factors in order to obtain their preferred cuisine. Although the boring, standard chow was available, it apparently just didn’t have the same appeal.
This report confirms that certain foods, when eaten regularly, can be addictive. It seems that high fat and high carbohydrates can both trigger this 'drug-seeking' behavior.
So, what can we learn from this study? The process of improving your eating habits, whether you call it a diet or not, can be stressful. What’s more, this stress is biologically-induced. This investigation looked at the classic stress hormones such as CRF. Other research confirms that there are several hormones and neurotransmitters responsible for hunger and appetite, operating in tandem.
For instance, ghrelin and leptin are major appetite modulators. Triggered by food or sleep deprivation, ghrelin can turn on your appetite, and even induce you to check out the contents of your refrigerator fifteen times an hour. When you eat, more leptin is produced by your satisfied fat cells, which then acts on your brain to calm down this food-seeking behavior.
So, are we at the mercy of our hormones, like the lowly lab mouse?
The advantage of being human is that we can have insight into our vulnerabilities. That means that we can plan for trouble ahead. We can develop strategies to deal with the stress of dieting. We can try to control other stressors in our lives. We can develop a repertoire of comfort foods that satisfy our cravings without packing on the calories. We can use some of the many appetite control tactics available. We can set goals as well as a reward system to keep us motivated. I’d say we are pretty darn lucky to be human instead of rodents!
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