Hard-wired to Overeat

Some people may simply be hard-wired to overeat, brain scans show.

Brian Alexander on MSNBC health wrote about an interesting idea that many claim that gives answers. Some people’s brains are just wired so they overeat and out of their control.

 

And now science is apparantly backing up those claims.

 

recent U.S. government study found that the number of obese American adults now outweighs the number of those who are merely overweight. While many factors contribute to excessive weight gain — from diet and cultural changes to decreased physical activity — there’s still a prevalent attitude that obesity is the fat person’s fault.

 

The researchers Andrew Calder, Luca Passamonti and James Rowe were trying to determine why some people are more likely to overeat. What they found was, “people who appear to be more sensitive to food signals have different wiring in their brains,” said obesity expert Marc-Andre Cornier, M.D., a University of Colorado endocrinologist who was not associated with the trial.

 

In the small study, just published in the January Journal of Neuroscience, brain scans showed how 21 participants reacted to three sets of images: appetizing food, bland food, and unrelated images of other subjects. The volunteers were of normal weight because obese people have already undergone “neurohormonal changes” that affect how their brains function, according to researcher Andrew Calder.

 

The participants were quizzed to determine their susceptibility to food cues. Then they fasted for two hours. At that point, their level of hunger was assessed. When researchers checked the brain scans, the results were clear.

 

What do you think?