ScienceDaily (July 31, 2009) — Research to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB) shows that exposing rats to a context associated with eating chocolate activates a part of the brain’s reward system known as the orexin system. This finding helps explain why eating can be triggered by environmental cues even in the absence of hunger. The results have implications for the development of new drug treatments for overeating.
The rate of obesity continues to rise within the United States and abroad, and over-consumption of tasty food is an obvious culprit. Little is known regarding how palatable foods affect the brain, but it seems that especially tasty foods elicit brain responses similar to those elicited by drugs of abuse such as cocaine and nicotine, pointing to a general involvement of the brain’s “reward” system.
A common factor may be activation of orexin neurons in the brain, which are recruited during of rewards such as a tasty food or a dose of cocaine. “Our research program is focused on identifying brain systems that are activated by palatable food intake. The hypothalamic orexin system is known to promote wakefulness and arousal; however, it is now clear that this system also participates in the regulation of reward-related behaviors, including overconsumption of palatable foods,” says Derrick Choi, lead author. Because reward anticipation is a contributing factor to relapse to drug use, Choi hypothesizes that orexin is an ideal candidate system that may underlie the rewarding aspects of eating highly palatable foods, which clearly can lead to obesity.
To more: http://www.aias.com.au/?gclid=CNbh26TKmJ0CFRhinAodD2bz2A
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