We all know how difficult it can be to resist a second helping of a delicious dinner, or turn down that piece of cake calling your name. However with obesity and its associated health problems on the rise, saying no to those tempting treats is becoming increasingly important.
Areas of the brain are known to have a physiological control over our body weight by stimulating and inhibiting food intake based on our body’s energy needs. However researchers have become aware that eating for pleasure rather than energy (hedonic eating) contributes a big part to the problem of obesity. With support from a Laurenson Grant (administered by the Foundation), Associate Professors, Greg Anderson, John Reynolds and Dr Maggie Evans are investigating the brain (neural) pathways involved in hedonic eating. Rewarding experiences cause the release of dopamine in certain areas of our brain, making us want to have these experiences again. Hedonic eating also causes the release of dopamine, triggering the neural reward pathways which stimulate overeating and the feeling of ‘food addiction’ that many people experience.
During their research project (funded in November 2014), Greg, John and Maggie will investigate how hormones involved in regulating the physiological control of eating, also affect an area of the brain containing dopamine cells. The hormones leptin and insulin normally signal our brain to say we don’t need any more energy (food). The research will focus on how leptin and insulin act in the brain to control release of dopamine during hedonic eating. The researchers believe that the release of dopamine while eating for pleasure is increased in obesity, motivating us to eat more, and that leptin and insulin might be the key to changing the feeling of reward our brain experiences and decreasing our desire to overeat.
This exciting research will hopefully take us a step closer to understanding how to break our ‘food addiction’ and step away from the dinner table!