Why Do People Overeat?
August 11, 2007
Scientists have said that people who lack the hormone leptin overeat even when they are not hungry. Leptin is produced by fat cells and circulates in the bloodstream to reach the brain where it acts to reduce hunger and increase the feeling of fullness. This report is found in the latest issue of Science journal.
A team of researchers led by Paul C Fletcher, a member of University Cambridge’s Department of Psychiatry, studied two people with a rare genetic disorder that stops the production of leptin. The patients ate excessive amounts of food, even things they didn’t enjoy. These people were obese. However, when they were treated with leptin, they ate less and lost weight. This is reported in the health portal, Health Day.
The researchers showed the two patients pictures of various foods while they recorded their brain activity. The scientists found that the pictures stimulated activity in the area called the striatal regions. One region in particular, the nucleus accumbens, was highly responsive to pictures of foods that the patients liked. But when the patients were treated with leptin, the pictures of foods produced a reduced response in the brain. The researchers said the response was activated mostly by foods the patients liked and only when they were hungry.
Source of this article IANS
Similar Posts
Comments
Got something to say?
