Diet Food Backfire
by Sandy Chase |
July 4th, 2008 |
Published in
All, Health
Stumble |
Share on Facebook |
Tweet This |
[If you cannot see the You Tube video below, you can click here for a high quality mp4 video.]
|
Interviewee: Albino Oliveira-Maia, |
Sweet reward
Scientists have known for a long time that sweet taste activates pleasure pathways in the brain. So, does consuming diet drinks really satisfy you? No, says Duke University neuroscientist Albino Oliveira-Maia; your brain can sense the missing calories.
“Satisfaction that we take from eating and from food depends on a second pathway other than the taste,” says Oliveira-Maia, “This pathway is a result of the caloric content, of the calories that are in the food that we are eating.”
He gave sugar water or water sweetened with sucralose (the non-caloric sweetener Splenda®) to specially-bred mice that could not taste sweetness. They used probes that recorded brain activity and matched that to special “lickometer” reading that recorded mouse licks from liquid dispensers. As reported in the journal Neuron, the researchers saw a response in the reward centers of animals that got sugar, but not in those fed the “diet” water.
The graphs pictured represent signals from the nucleus accumbens, a region in the brain associated with pleasure and reward. In the upper left is an overlay of many signals from one probe. The plot at the right is a 3D map of the isolated signals (yellow) and the activity of other probes (grey.)
Oliveira-Maia says that “the dopamine system, which is involved in all kinds of reward, it’s involved in taste, people have known for many years now that it’s involved in addiction. It’s also involved in how calories are impacting the brain reward system.”
He says sweetness is a quick way for our brains to judge the value of a food, but once it makes it to our stomach, another set of signals tells us the calorie content. “If we think of it from an evolutionary point of view, that’s what we’re looking for when we’re eating, we’re looking for calories.”
What does Splenda® have to say?
McNeil Nutritionals, the makers of Splenda®, released a statement in response to the Duke University study. They said, “It’s important for living things to have mechanisms to detect calories. This programming helps assure the consumption of foods that provide sustenance and energy for survival.”
They also pointed to a 2007 study they funded that showed kids who switched to their non-caloric sweetener and increased their exercise level did a better job of maintaining a healthy weight than the control group.
Dieting makes you fat?
A study from Purdue University published in Behavioral Neuroscience in February 2008, showed that rats fed artificially-sweetened yogurt ate more calories and gained more weight (and fat) than rats fed yogurt sweetened with real sugar. And, later on, they ate more of a new, calorie-rich sweet food they were offered, presumably because on some level they forgot that sweet things can satisfy them and provide calories.
One theory the researchers are working with is that eating artificially sweetened foods disrupts the “sweet taste = calories” association that we expect from our food. They think that could throw off our natural moderation of eating and weight gain.
See a note on the Splenda® website addressing the issue.
What about humans?
A study published in the journal NeuroImage in February of 2008 showed a difference between MRI scans of people who drank sugar water versus those who drank sucralose-sweetened water.
Only the sugar group showed activity in a specific portion of the midbrain that is associated with pleasantness. An interesting twist is that consciously, the subjects did not recognize the difference, but on another level, their brain knew when they drank the real sugar.
Researchers continue to ask if it will one day be possible to help people eat fewer calories and still feel satisfied. That, says Oliveira-Maia, is the million-dollar question.
The research was published in Neuron, March 2008. It was funded by NIH and Philip Morris. Dr. Oliveira-Maia is also supported by a grant from the Government of Portugal. Also referenced in the article: Pediatrics, October 2007; Behavioral Neuroscience, February 2008.
Stumble |
Share on Facebook |
Tweet This |
iTunes
November 27th, 2008 at 1:09 pm (#)
I would suggest you one thing if you want to have a healthy diet. Take some sweet after your meal. It helps in digestion as well as your tounge like it very much.
December 21st, 2008 at 6:42 am (#)
I never knew our brain judged food on that level, pretty amazing stuff.
December 21st, 2008 at 6:42 am (#)
I’ve known this for a while, solid info in this article.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:20 pm (#)
Thanks for the information just what I was looking for.
May 7th, 2009 at 5:12 pm (#)
Great information in this article.
charlotte chiropractor
May 1st, 2010 at 3:06 pm (#)
i always monitor my calorie intake from my diet because i have a very slow metabolism and i dont want to get overweight.:;:
May 11th, 2010 at 7:40 pm (#)
A healthy diet will always be composed of high fiber frutis and veggies, low sugar, low carb and rich in protein.;`.
May 19th, 2010 at 4:38 am (#)
the Chinese Chiropractor that we have in our village is really good in treating my sprained ankles.’:~
July 12th, 2010 at 10:46 pm (#)
my dad is a chiropractor and he often amazes me how he could treat my sprains.:.;
July 16th, 2010 at 12:22 am (#)
Can anyone give more list of diet foods?-`”
October 22nd, 2010 at 6:50 pm (#)
i like to consume diet foods coz they can help you slim a bit and avoid to much body fat.”.
December 12th, 2010 at 2:16 pm (#)
diet foods that are nutritious would be the best for our bodies, most diet foods are not very nutritious `*`
September 10th, 2011 at 12:04 pm (#)
Aw, this has been a very good post. In thought I have to put in writing this way also – taking time and actual hard work to generate a excellent write-up
September 22nd, 2011 at 12:37 am (#)
Hi there, Thanks a lot for this awesome article! Best wishes, exotic wine
October 14th, 2011 at 2:10 am (#)
I merely had to thank you so much once more. I don’t know the things that I’d have worked on in the absence of your tricks noted simply by a person above my personal business. Formerly it had been a very fearsome issue for me personally, nonetheless considering a specialized opportunity you managed it taught me to be to jump regarding happiness. I’m merely grateful for your assistance and in addition truly we imagine you really know how much of an amazing job you happen to be carrying out educating consumers thru your own webpage. Possibly you have not encountered most of us.
March 15th, 2012 at 5:52 am (#)
An individual are most often very specialized in the way anyone write.:: ’~*
April 4th, 2012 at 4:03 pm (#)
I will be subscribing to this feed. Interesting points were made here. Thanks for sharing.