binge-eat.com
Links
to some of the latest research and articles on
binge-eating, food addiction, and related topics
We do not necessarily endorse, agree with or wish to
promote any particular view,
but present any and all relevant perspectives.
Brain-neuroscience related
information
Fatty food bad for you? It may be a no-brainer
Postmedia
News (Dec. 28, 2011) by Sharon Kirkey – Researchers have found that
there’s a part of your body that might actually shrink when you eat too much
fast food. Unfortunately, it’s your brain.
People with diets high in trans fats are more likely to experience the kind of brain shrinkage associated with Alzheimer’s disease
than people who consume less of the artery-damaging fats, the new study
suggests. http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/12/28/fatty-food-bad-for-you-it-may-be-a-no-brainer/
Could obesity change the brain?
NPR's Health Blog: Shots (Dec.28,
2011) by Nancy Shute – The standard advice for losing weight often comes up
short for people who are obese. If they switch to a healthful diet and exercise
more, they might lose a bit. But the pounds have a way of creeping back on. Now
some provocative research suggests that a part of the problem might be that
obesity could change the area of the brain that
helps control appetite and body weight. http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/12/27/144331177/could-obesity-change-the-brain?ft=1&f=1128&sc=tw
New map shows where tastes are coded in the brain
ScienceDaily (Sep. 5, 2011) — Each taste, from sweet to salty, is sensed by a unique set of neurons in the brains of mice, new research reveals. The findings demonstrate that neurons that respond to specific tastes are arranged discretely in what the scientists call a "gustotopic map." This is the first map that shows how taste is represented in the mammalian brain.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110901142110.htm
Free radicals crucial to
suppressing appetite
ScienceDaily (Aug. 29, 2011) — Obesity is growing at alarming rates worldwide, and the biggest culprit is overeating. In a study of brain circuits that control hunger and satiety, Yale School of Medicine researchers have found that molecular mechanisms controlling free radicals -- molecules tied to aging and tissue damage -- are at the heart of increased appetite in diet-induced obesity.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110828140931.htm
Do you eat when you’re
stressed? This new study knows why
Globe
and Mail (Aug. 11, 2011), by Dawn Walton – A new Canadian study has
pinpointed how stress can temporarily rewire the nerve cells in the brain to ramp up hunger pangs. The findings finally
put some science behind what people have thought for years. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/new-health/health-nutrition/nutrition-features/do-you-eat-when-youre-stressed-this-new-study-knows-why/article2126896/
Salt appetite is linked to drug addiction, research
finds
ScienceDaily (July 29, 2011) — A team of
Duke University Medical Center and Australian scientists has found that
addictive drugs may have hijacked the same nerve cells and connections in the brain that serve a powerful, ancient instinct: the
appetite for salt. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110711151451.htm#.TjghwVk0fJM.email
Does food act
physiologically like a 'drug of choice' for some?
ScienceDaily (July 20, 2011) — Variety is
considered the "spice of life," but does today's unprecedented level
of dietary variety help explain skyrocketing rates of obesity? Some researchers
think it might. According to ASN
Spokesperson Shelley McGuire, PhD: "We've known for years that foods- even
eating, itself- can trigger release of various brain
chemicals, some of which are also involved in what happens with drug addiction
and withdrawal. And, as can happen with substance abusers, tolerance or
"habituation" can occur, meaning that repeated use (in this case,
exposure to a food) is sometimes accompanied by a lack of response (in this
case, disinterest in the food). The results of the study by Epstein and
colleagues provides a very interesting new piece to the obesity puzzle by
suggesting that meal monotony may actually lead to reduced calorie consumption.
The trick will be balancing this concept with the importance of variety to good
nutrition." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110719114340.htm
Eat a protein-rich
breakfast to reduce food cravings, prevent overeating later, researcher finds
ScienceDaily (May 19, 2011) — A University of Missouri researcher has found that eating a healthy breakfast, especially one high in protein, increases satiety and reduces hunger throughout the day. In addition, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) the researchers found that eating a protein-rich breakfast reduces the brain signals controlling food motivation and reward-driven eating behavior.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110519113024.htm
Food addiction works like
drug addiction in the brain
Huffington
Post (Apr. 5, 2011) – Seeing a milkshake can activate the same areas
of the brain that light up when an addict sees
cocaine, U.S. researchers said on Monday. The study helps explain why it can be
so hard for some people to maintain a healthy weight, and why it has been so
difficult for drug makers and health experts to find obesity treatments that
work. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/05/food-addiction-brain_n_844931.html
Binge eaters' dopamine
levels spike at sight, smell of food
ScienceDaily (Feb.
28, 2011) — A brain imaging study at the
U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory reveals a
subtle difference between ordinary obese subjects and those who compulsively
overeat, or binge: In binge eaters but not ordinary obese subjects, the mere
sight or smell of favorite foods triggers a spike in dopamine -- a brain chemical linked to reward and motivation.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110228104308.htm
Hand study reveals brain's distorted body model
ScienceDaily
(June 16, 2010) — Our brains contain a highly
distorted model of our own bodies, according to scientists at UCL (University
College London)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100614160201.htm
Obesity gene, carried by
more than a third of the us population, leads to brain
tissue loss
ScienceDaily (Apr. 20, 2010) — Three
years ago, geneticists reported the startling discovery that nearly half of all
people in the U.S. with European ancestry carry a variant of the fat mass and
obesity associated (FTO) gene, which causes them to gain weight -- from three
to seven pounds, on average -- but worse, puts them at risk for obesity.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100419162308.htm?sms_ss=email
Fear of
getting fat seen in healthy women's brain
scans
ScienceDaily (Apr. 14, 2010) — A group of
women in a new study seemed unlikely to have body image issues -- at least
their responses on a tried-and-true psychological screening presented no red
flags. That assessment changed when Brigham Young University researchers used
MRI technology to observe what happened in the brain
when people viewed images of complete strangers. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100413151913.htm
Rats with part of brain deactivated move toward food but do not eat
ScienceDaily (Sep. 9, 2009) — Scientists led a rat to the fatty food, but they couldn’t make it eat. Using an animal model of binge eating, University of Missouri researchers discovered that deactivating the basolateral amygdala, a brain region involved in regulating emotion, specifically blocked consumption of a fatty diet. Surprisingly, it had no effect on the rat wanting to look for the food repeatedly. “It appears that two different brain circuits control the motivation to seek and consume,” said Matthew Will, assistant professor of psychological sciences in the MU College of Arts and Science and investigator in the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090908151334.htm
Why some continue to eat when full: Researchers find
clues
ScienceDaily (Dec. 28, 2009) — The premise that hunger makes food look more appealing is a widely held belief -- just ask those who cruise grocery store aisles on an empty stomach, only to go home with a full basket and an empty wallet. Prior research studies have suggested that the so-called hunger hormone ghrelin, which the body produces when it's hungry, might act on the brain to trigger this behavior. New research in mice by UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists suggest that ghrelin might also work in the brain to make some people keep eating "pleasurable" foods when they're already full.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091228090539.htm
Dopamine enhances expectation of pleasure in humans
ScienceDaily (Nov. 15, 2009) — Enhancing the effects of the brain chemical dopamine influences how people make life choices by affecting expectations of pleasure, according to new research from the UCL Institute of Neurology. The study, published in Current Biology, confirms an important role for dopamine in how human expectations are formed and how people make complex decisions. It also contributes to an understanding of how pleasure expectation can go awry, for example in drug addiction.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091112121603.htm
Scientists identify stomach’s timekeepers of hunger
ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2009) — New York collaborators at Columbia and Rockefeller Universities have identified cells in the stomach that time the release of a hormone that makes animals anticipate food and eat even when they are not hungry. The finding, which has implications for the treatment of obesity, marks a landmark in the decades-long search for the timekeepers of hunger. The work reveals what the stomach “tells” the brain.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090829092042.htm
High-fat, high-sugar foods alter brain receptors
ScienceDaily
(Aug. 6, 2009) — Over consumption of fatty, sugary foods leads to changes in
brain receptors, according to new animal research at Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine. The new research results are being presented at the
2009 annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB).
The results have implications for understanding bulimia and other binge eating
disorders. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090727102024.htm
8 ways the food industry
hijacks your brain: Overeating doesn't only affect people who are overweight
msnbc.com (July 10, 2009) — In the 21st century the food industry is creating and marketing unhealthy food in much the same way that tobacco companies manufactured and sold cigarettes in the 20th century… more than 70 million Americans have become conditioned to overeat, and it affects people of all different weights. Dr. David A. Kessler, the dynamic and controversial former head of the Food and Drug Administration who took on big tobacco in the 1990s, now takes on the food industry …[and] pulls back the curtain to reveal how the food industry and its scientists really operate.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31832558/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/
Finding fear: Neuroscientists locate where it is
stored in the brain
ScienceDaily (July 8, 2009) — Fear is a powerful emotion, and neuroscientists have for the first time located the neurons responsible for fear conditioning in the mammalian brain. Fear conditioning is a form of Pavlovian, or associative, learning and is considered to be a model system for understanding human phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090707093753.htm
A biology of mental disorder
Newsweek (June 27, 2009, from the July 13, 2009 magazine issue) by Eric Kandel — Understanding the biology of mental illness would be a paradigm shift in our thinking about mind…The most convincing scientific progress in psychiatry in the past decade has had little to do with genomics. It is the rigorous, scientific verification that certain forms of psychotherapy are effective. This is perhaps not surprising. One of the major insights in the modern biology of learning and memory is that education, experience, and social interactions affect the brain. http://www.newsweek.com/id/204320
How the food makers captured
our brains
New
York Times (June 22, 2009) by Tara Parker-Pope – As head of the Food
and Drug Administration, Dr. David A. Kessler served two presidents and battled
Congress and Big Tobacco. But the Harvard-educated pediatrician discovered he
was helpless against the forces of a chocolate chip cookie…The result of Dr.
Kessler’s quest is a fascinating new book, “The End of Overeating: Taking
Control of the Insatiable American Appetite” (Rodale).
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/health/23well.html?_r=1&ref=health
Flipping the brain's addiction switch without drugs
ScienceDaily (May 29, 2009) — When someone becomes dependent on drugs or alcohol, the brain's pleasure center gets hijacked, disrupting the normal functioning of its reward circuitry. Researchers investigating this addiction "switch" have now implicated a naturally occurring protein, a dose of which allowed them to get rats hooked with no drugs at all.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090528142825.htm
Brain's organization switches as children become
adults
ScienceDaily (May 17, 2009) — Any child confronting an outraged parent demanding to know "What were you thinking?" now has a new response: "Scientists have discovered that my brain is organized differently from yours." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090515093228.htm
Blow your diet? Blame your brain: low-fat labels and encouraging exercise can backfire
msnbc.com (May 13, 2009) by Linda Carroll — Ever make a resolution to go out and exercise and end up grabbing a gooey chocolate cupcake instead? No matter how good our intentions are, sometimes it seems like our stomachs are out to sabotage us. Scientists are now starting to understand why this happens. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30702871/
Brain's problem-solving function at work when we
daydream
ScienceDaily (May 12, 2009) — A new University
of British Columbia study finds that our brains
are much more active when we daydream than previously thought. The study, published in the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that activity in numerous brain regions increases when our minds wander. It also
finds that brain areas associated with complex
problem-solving – previously thought to go dormant when we daydream – are in
fact highly active during these episodes.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090511180702.htm
Brain chemical reduces anxiety, increases survival of
new cells
ScienceDaily (May 13, 2009) — New research on a brain chemical involved in development sheds light on why some individuals may be predisposed to anxiety. It also strengthens understanding of cellular processes that may be common to anxiety and depression, and suggests how lifestyle changes may help overcome both.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090512193229.htm
Can't curb your
enthusiasm for food? Blame the brain
CBC News (Apr. 30, 2009) — Next time you give in to that craving for a chocolate bar as your energy levels take a mid-afternoon dip, you could be justified in saying that your brain made you do it. A new study published in the May 1 issue of the journal Science concluded there are differences in the brains of people who are good at controlling their urges versus those who find it almost impossible . . .The research was conducted by scientists at the California Institute of Technology. The study involved dieters, but the scientists say their findings could also be applied to addictions, illegal behaviour and risky financial decisions since each involves willpower. http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/04/30/blamethebrain.html
Dieters' best intentions hijacked by their brains
msnbc.com (Apr. 20, 2009) — New research suggests millions have their best intentions foiled by "conditioned hypereating" - the drive to eat high-fat, high-sugar foods even when they're not hungry. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30312808/from/ET/
Human brains make
their own 'marijuana'
ScienceDaily (Apr. 20, 2009) — U.S. and Brazilian scientists have discovered that the brain manufactures proteins that act like marijuana at specific receptors in the brain itself. This discovery may lead to new marijuana-like drugs for managing pain, stimulating appetite, and preventing marijuana abuse.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090420151240.htm
Early brain marker for familial form of depression: Structural changes in brain's cortex
ScienceDaily (Mar. 26, 2009) — Findings from one of the largest-ever imaging studies of depression indicate that a structural difference in the brain – a thinning of the right hemisphere – appears to be linked to a higher risk for depression, according to new research at Columbia University Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090324081437.htm
Scars of child abuse reach down to genetic level, scientists find
cbc.ca
(Feb 23, 2009) — Child abuse early in life appears to permanently change how
people respond to stress, say researchers in Montreal who studied the brains of suicide victims.
Copyright 2009 CBC All Rights Reserved
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/02/23/child-abuse-brain.html
Study: Men's brains fight food urges
better,
cnn.com / Health (Jan. 19, 2009) by Anne Harding — PET scans of brains of 23 people were observed, while they looked at favorite foods. Women's brain activity didn't change when asked to suppress desire. Men showed less activation in brain involved in emotional regulation and motivation. Men may have better tools for appetite control
http://www.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=viewThis&etMailToID=1845225782
Fit older women have
better brain function: Study
Thestar.com / The Canadian Press (Jan. 8, 2009)
by Sheryl Ubelacker — Regular physical activity is known to
improve cognitive ability and help stave off dementia, and now Canadian
researchers think they know why. http://www.healthzone.ca/health/article/564221
Brain circuit abnormalities may underlie bulimia nervosa
in women
ScienceDaily (Jan. 7, 2009) — Women with bulimia nervosa appear to respond more impulsively during psychological testing than those without eating disorders, and brain scans show differences in areas responsible for regulating behavior, according to a new report.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090105175031.htm
Brain
enzyme may play key role
in controlling appetite and weight gain
ScienceDaily (Dec. 16, 2008) — Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found that overactivity of a brain enzyme may play a role in preventing weight gain and obesity. The findings were reported in Cell Metabolism.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081212141845.htm
Obesity all in
your head? Brain genes associated with increased
body mass
ScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2008) — Is obesity all in your head? New research suggests that genes that predispose people to obesity act in the brain and that perhaps some people are simply hardwired to overeat.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081214190959.htm
Study: Six new gene mutations linked to obesity
msnbc.com (Dec. 14, 2008) — Researchers have identified six new gene mutations linked to obesity and said on Sunday they point to ways the brain and nervous system control eating and metabolism. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28222722/from/ET/
Sugar can be
addictive: animal studies show sugar dependence
ScienceDaily (Dec. 11, 2008) — A Princeton University scientist will present new evidence today demonstrating that sugar can be an addictive substance, wielding its power over the brains of lab animals in a manner similar to many drugs of abuse.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081210090819.htm
For the overweight, bad advice by the spoonful
New
York Times (Aug. 30, 2007) by Gina Kolata —Two-thirds of Americans
are overweight or obese. For most, research shows, neither diets nor moderate
exercise brings significant long-term weight loss. In brief: weight control is not simply a matter of willpower;
genes help determine the body's "set point," which is defended by the
brain; dieting alone is rarely successful, and
relapse rates are high; moderate exercise, too, rarely results in substantive
long-term weight loss, which requires intensive exercise.
http://health.nytimes.com/ref/health/healthguide/esn-obesity-ess.html
This is your brain on chocolate
New York Times (Aug. 23, 2005) by Donald G. McNeil Jr. — You remember Isaac Newton, his apple and the "Why didn't it fall up?" question. In the olfactory sciences, a crucial line of inquiry was opened up some years ago when a friend of a psychologist who was studying food asked, "If I hate the smell of Limburger cheese, why is it so delicious?" Researchers at Yale, the John B. Pierce Laboratory and the University of Dresden may now be closer to a biological answer. They got 11 volunteers to lie inside magnetic brain scanners . . . Four odours were pumped in: butanol, farnesol (both described as "pleasantly musky"), lavender and chocolate. Only chocolate activated two different regions. Smelled from up front, it lighted up pleasure-anticipation neurons; from the back, it lighted up food-reward neurons.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/23/science/23nose.html?pagewanted=print
Studies on
the dopamine connection
CBC Marketplace: Food/Junk
Food Addiction (Oct. 29, 2002) by
Reporter: Wendy Mesley; Producer: Greg Sadler; Researchers: Colman Jones,
Leonardo Palleja — Scientists at the Department of Energy's Brookhaven National
Laboratory found that dopamine, a brain chemical
associated with addiction to cocaine, alcohol, and other drugs, may also play
an important role in obesity. http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/food/junkfood_addiction/dopamine.html
Measuring brain activity in people eating chocolate offers new
clues about how the body becomes addicted
ScienceDaily (Aug. 29, 2001) — Using positron emission tomography scans to measure brain activity in people eating chocolate, a team of U.S. and Canadian neuroscientists believe they have identified areas of the brain that may underlie addiction and eating disorders.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010829082943.htm
Brain chemicals may cause bulimia
BBC online: Health (October 14, 1998) — The eating disorder bulimia nervosa may be caused, at least in part, by chemical changes to the brain, researchers have discovered. Scientists have found that chemical changes that take place in the brains of sufferers persist even after recovery.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/192727.stm
published by: changehappens.ca
last
updated: Jan. 29, 2012