Science helps explain cravings for junk food
As obesity in America reaches epidemic proportions, researchers are keying in on the reasons for ever-expanding waistlines and attraction to junk food. Their findings can be startling. A craving for a Twinkie may be tweaking a brain the same way illegal drugs do.
Why humans crave junk food, and how those cravings are creating problems was the topic of the most recent Science Unwrapped lecture at USU. Tim Gilbertson and campus Wellness Director Caroline Shugart outlined the problem and gave some suggestions for avoiding junk food addiction
Gilbertson said there are chemical reasons why humans are naturally attracted to junk food. His research found humans definitely do taste fat and enjoy the taste, but he could not initially understand why fat is craved over fruits or other healthier foods.
Gilbertson said he has since found humans crave fat because as a person eats more fat, their brain becomes desensitized. This creates a vicious cycle, he said. The more fat a person eats, the more the brain desires it.
Eating fatty foods is also pleasurable. The same receptors in the brain that affect drug users, making them constantly want drugs, are stimulated when a person eats fatty foods, he said.
Gilbertson said more than 300,000 premature deaths in the U.S. each year are related to obesity. Obesity rates have soared between 1985 and 2007, with some states now having one of every three people being overweight or obese.
Gilbertson said genetic and metabolic disorders counted for only a small portion of the increase. Socioeconomic factors are a slightly larger cause of the increase; however, they are a growing factor because it is cheaper to buy foods that are unhealthy. The largest cause of increasing obesity is personal choice, he said. Choosing a lifestyle that is sedentary and has a bad diet is the leading factor in obesity, he said.
Gilbertson said he suggests educating young people regarding the effects of poor lifestyle habits can have a positive effect on preventing obesity.
Pharmaceutical companies have a great interest in making a magic pill that will melt fat, he said. However, there is still no pill that can help a person lose weight and keep it off. Gilbertson said there are hopes that in the near future there will be a way to do it.
Caroline Shugart presented information showing that if a white child was born in the 2000s, they have a 30 percent chance of developing diabetes because of obesity. Black children have a 40 percent chance and Hispanic children have a 50 percent chance, she said.
Shugart has been working to make it easier for USU students and faculty to make healthy choices. The Be Well menu at Utah State offers healthy foods at a discounted price. After the presentation, the catering services department provided healthy food for everyone to sample.
Stephanie Gregory, sophomore in dietetics, said she “liked how Gilbertson talked about the fat receptors. I love the food, and the public coming out and mingling.”
Christian Hopkins, sophomore in international business, said he also enjoyed the lecture.
“It was an excellent reminder of the necessity of remembering benefits of nutritional awareness,” he said. “My favorite was the presentation. It was something that we can relate to – it hit home because it is a common problem. And it’s something we have to deal with.
Science Unwrapped is a series of presentations that the College of Science is sponsoring monthly. More information can be found at www.usu.edu/unwrapped.
–adam.ward@aggiemail.usu.edu