The Pleasure Factor

I believe there is a confound here that is being ignored. I do not think that they can claim that lower neurotransmitter response to pleasurable food is the CAUSE of overeating and obesity. How do we know that the lower response was not due to overeating? I mean, someone who is lean more than likely does not have chocolate milkshakes very often, so drinking one would constitute a treat. However, someone who is overweight or obese might have milkshakes or sweets in general on a regular basis, in which case it is not that much of a treat and would therefore lead to less of a pleasure response. It is the basic concept of tolerance. Those who are addicted to cocaine or heroine cause their neurotransmitter stores to be depleted, which leads to the release of fewer and fewer neurotransmitters when taking the drug. This would show up as lower activity on an fMRI scan, but one would never argue that this lower activity is the CAUSE of their drug addiction. I think this is more an example of tolerance than a cause of obesity.

Ooops. My post below should say "clinically-defined addition"....

I find it interesting how easy it is for people who have never had an actual, clinically-defined definition to simply dismiss those who do as weak-willed. Well, that aside, as someone who has struggled their entire adult life with food additions I am happy to report that I have had great success with gastric by-pass surgery and on-going counselling. I can't over-stress the importance of the counselling/support component and would recommend anyone else who is trying to deal with any kind of eating disorder join a group or see a counsellor. Good luck, all!!

I hope this study makes people cognitively aware what supposedly happens to their pleasure response, that they need more to obtain the pleasure high of consuming food. Just knowing this bit of information, whether it's true for them, can make them take less scoops or mouthfuls.

I still tell myself to picture my arteries as very narrow tubes of vessels so I stay away from as much fatty stuff as possible. Also as I exercise on the stepper, I tell myself that by increasing my heart rate, I am pushing the fatty junk from the walls of the arteries. It's junk thinking to some, but it works for me. Somehow the science works for me the most. I also avoid places that makes me want to give in to my urges. I still derive pleasure from eating junk food, but I know that if I space the intervals in eating the stuff, I can get a lot of peasure when I do.

Being heathy or striving for health is a challenge even for the gym members. It's not easy, but hang in there all you eaters as Halloween and TG approaches!

There is a very big difference between theory and reality. That difference is called FACT. Knowlege of why people behave the way they do, helps understand how to help develop plans to counteract and overcome the behavior. Just as we have learned that there are several different learning types, and have begun to utilize different structured teaching methods to best reach individuals, we can use this new information about why some people overeat to look at additional ways of encouraging healthy eating. As an obese person, I have participated in many diets, nutritional programs, had weight loss surgery but still struggle with overeating. Only one Dr. said I was "addicted" to eating, and I even thought that was ridiculous, feeling more comfortable to berate myself as being weak of mind and spirit. A freind who is a personal chef, started bringing a single portion of his new recipies to try. I found that with a seasoned, well prepared single portion, I was more satisfied than if I overate a regular meal. There is merit where this research is headed. As long as everyone remembers the difference between explanations and excuses.

There is a very big difference between theory and reality. That difference is called FACT. Knowlege of why people behave the way they do, helps understand how to help develop plans to counteract and overcome the behavior. Just as we have learned that there are several different learning types, and have begun to utilize different structured teaching methods to best reach individuals, we can use this new information about why some people overeat to look at additional ways of encouraging healthy eating. As an obese person, I have participated in many diets, nutritional programs, had weight loss surgery but still struggle with overeating. Only one Dr. said I was "addicted" to eating, and I even thought that was ridiculous, feeling more comfortable to berate myself as being weak of mind and spirit. A freind who is a personal chef, started bringing a single portion of his new recipies to try. I found that with a seasoned, well prepared single portion, I was more satisfied than if I overate a regular meal. There is merit where this research is headed. As long as everyone remembers the difference between explanations and excuses.

what you think is what you speak, what you speak is what you do, what you do is what you are, and who you are is how you think. there is no such think as trying you either do or you don't. You give yourself power and you take it away, no one else has that power and that is what gives you strength

i think that everybody can stop doing something if they want so! the only thing is to be very brave in head! have the force to do it! be positive and everything will be!! you must be more intelliegent that a simple tentation you must do it and impose you!! you must be more hard with your self! as i read before, there is somebody who sais that she doesnt eat well beacuse good things are expensive and thats no true, instead of eating a cookie because you are hungry you eat a fruit and a small chocolate and that will stop beeing hungry!! try be more rude with your self instead of saying yes to crap food!!!!!

Um.... Maybe the reason thin people have a higher pleasure response to drinking a milkshake is because we are disciplined with food and rarely consume milkshakes. When you are obese and consume junk food on a daily basis, it is not going to evoke the same please response as it does from someone who hasn't had a milkshake in months. How was this article published by a respectable magazine? If you read an article that poses more questions than it gives answers, maybe the author did a crappy job.

Um.... Maybe the reason thin people have a higher pleasure response to drinking a milkshake is because we are disciplined with food and rarely consume milkshakes. When you are obese and consume junk food on a daily basis, it is not going to evoke the same please response as it does from someone who hasn't had a milkshake in months. How was this article published by a respectable magazine? If you read an article that poses more questions than it gives answers, maybe the author did a crappy job.

This makes sense to me. I underwent chemotherapy two years ago. The medications really affected my sense of taste. I had been relatively thin before the cancer diagnosis, but since nothing tasted "right", I was never satisfied and I tried to find food that would give me some sort of satisfaction and I ended up overeating. I have felt ever since that it affected my eating patterns and I agree that patterns can be created when something is affecting the brain. That said, I do understand there are many issues that affect a person's weight. This is just one of them. It is not a critisism of people with other health issues.

I am a nutrition candidate and appreciate your comments. However, I think people tend to deny certain issues because it makes individuals personally responsible. While I understand there is a portion of obesity that is gentic, based on the number of adipose cells [fat cells] you are born with. Adipose cells expand and replicate, but they are never eliminated from the body- they only shrink. So, for some people they will naturally have more cells than others. However, we make choices to eat healthy and exercise, or to indulge in poor nutriton that not only causes weight gain, but also more serious diseases such as Insulin Resistance and Type II diabetes. There are many genetic factors that influence our different metabolisms, shapes, sizes, and body types. However, 'GOD' did not make us fat. Human beings did not suffer from obesity and serious health related issues due to diet years ago. These are results of our environment, poor nutrition, laziness, processed foods, improved technology, lack of activity, etc. Please don't compare yourselves to others, but rather think about ways to improve your own health and activity. In Good Health ...

I imagine that many people are reading this article because they can't stop their own eating and are looking for hope - whether or not they are actually obese. I used to binge on huge quantities of baked goods and junk food and I hated myself for it. I kept trying to stop on my own and could not. I have found hope and recovery in Overeaters Anonymous, a 12 step program for food addictions. More information is available at www.oa.org. If you are suffering, please know there is help out there.

This is one theory that finally makes sense to me. I am overweight, crave certain foods--but when I finally get them I almost always feel cheated--these things never taste as good to me as I expect; yet I keep craving them. I'm not really interested in food in general. Regardless of what most people might think, I hardly ever think of it. I don't like cooking. I have a thin friend who is a gourmet cook and can remember almost every meal she has ever had in an expensive restaraunt. Usually I don't even remember what I ate at "Pierre's." I'd just as soon eat at a cheaper place and save money. It does appear I'm addicted to something I don'e even really like!

This actually makes sense to me, now that I understand the theory. I've always wondered why I crave something in the extreme sometimes; but when I actually get the particular food, I'm almost always dissappointed in how it tastes. I know this, and yet the cravings continue. I also know, that even though I'm overweight, I really don't care one way or the other about food in general. I have a thin friend who is a gourmet cook and can remember everything she ever ate in a fancy restaraunt. I don't care for cooking and would just as soon eat at a cheap place if we go out, and I seldom remember, exactly, what I ate yesterday or the day before. To me, it is simply an addiction.

Now take scans of people who are addicted to substances such as opiates, alcohol, tobacco or sex for that matter. Could it be that, just as in the crack head or heroine junkie, the "food addict" builds up some type of resistance to their "drug", thus giving the conclusion that they don't get satisfied by food, unless there is a lot of it? They should have done brain scans on a bunch of skinny people as a control, (or skinny people from fat famiies who had not got too fat yet, then followed them over time, a and scaned them once they got fat. I think that would paint a bettter picture.