I don’t want to turn this into a nutrition blog, but I find some of the recent studies coming out on the science very interesting. The evidence that there is an epidemic of obesity in our country is overwhelming. And, more and more evidence is accumulating that dieting is not the answer. It’s going to take more than just telling people to eat better and exercise more.
One aspect of nutrition that has probably been under-appreciated is the interaction of nutrition and neuroscience. Well, thanks to a new study published in Nature Neuroscience, that may not be the case much longer.
Addiction to certain drugs, like cocaine and heroin, are accompanied by changes in the level of specific neurotransmitter receptors in the brain. In a process called negative feedback, as the neurotransmitter level increases, the number and sensitivity of its receptors decrease.
The neurotransmitter most closely associated with addictions is dopamine. Dopamine is active in the “reward” or “pleasure” centers in the brain. One of these reward centers is called the striatum. The authors showed that in rats exposed to chronic high fat foods, the level of the dopamine receptor D2 in the striatum is decreased. That means that it would take even more fatty food to get the same pleasure response. In other words, this is the first clear evidence that fatty foods are addictive.
From a neurosurgical perspective, this is very interesting. Neurosurgeons are able to modulate brain activity in specific regions of the brain by implanting electrical stimulators. Current surgical techniques for the treatment of obesity (called bariatric surgery) are principally performed by general surgeons. Procedures including gastric bypass, banding, stomach stapling, and others are accompanied by severe side effects. They also carry risks of vitamin deficiencies. Furthermore, although there are many successful outcomes from the surgery, there are failures as well. A deep brain stimulator could be a very attractive alternative.
