Sharp refusal from fatty food is comparable with refusal of drugs
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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For sure, most people do not cause lenten salads or appetite, nor enthusiasm, but rather able to dishearten and cause stress. When you finally decide to change your diet and switch to eating less fatty and high-calorie food, you can feel the changes in your body and mood, and not just because watching your friends eating delicious dishes is bitter and sad, but also for the reason, that the transition to a low-calorie diet causes a number of changes in brain biochemistry.
Scientists from the University of Montreal found that switching to food with less fat leads to chemical changes in the brain and provokes increased anxiety.
A team of neuroscientists discovered that the rejection of fatty foods and the transition to a leaner menu acts on the brain in much the same way as rejecting the drug.
Experts conducted a study of brain processes in the rejection of fatty foods in mice. First, animals received portions of fatty foods, where part of the fat was about 58% of calories, and then they were put on a lean diet, where fat provided only 11% of energy value.
During the experiment, behavioral testing was conducted, as well as biochemical analysis of the brain of some experimental individuals. These experiments were aimed at detecting changes in the concentration of substances critical to the normal functioning of certain parts of the brain.
Despite the fact that the research of specialists involved not people, but rodents, it was possible to establish that a diet that includes foods high in fat, is able to influence the pleasure received by a person from food, as well as anxiety.
To determine how much the anxiety level in animals has increased, scientists have used a simple and effective method. They planted the mice on two intersecting tracks, the length of which was a few dozen centimeters from the center of the intersection, and placed this structure on a high altitude. Two branches were closed on top and sides, and two more were made in the form of open areas resembling small balconies. As a result, the more rodents spent their time hiding in the shelter, the more disturbing they were.
And in order to assess the nutritional motivation and the general satisfaction with life, experts put tasty food before the animals and marked how much time it takes for mice to detect it.
The findings of the scientists indicate that a number of changes take place in the biochemistry of the brain. When mice switched to the consumption of lean foods, their body increased the level of the hormone corticosterone, the production of which increases with chronic stress. It was also noticed that the concentration of two proteins that perform several different functions simultaneously increases. They are responsible for the formation of memory, as well as for the synthesis of new neurons - CREB and BDNF. At first, these changes lead to anxiety and anxiety, and when you give up fatty foods cause cravings for food.
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