Brain rewiring
Last week, a small study was published in the journal Nutrition & Diabetes that set out to evaluate the accuracy of the notion that some people simply don’t like healthy foods. The study was done at the USDA’s Energy Metabolism and Obesity Laboratory at Tufts University and involved 13 overweight and obese people (a very small study, indeed). The people were divided into two groups, the experimental and the control groups. Participants in both groups had a brain scan before the start of the study. The people in the experimental group cut calories by 500 to 1,000 per day, controlled their portions, and attended support group sessions. Their diet was high in fiber and protein to help control hunger and cravings. The control group did not partake in this eating program.
After six months, the experimental group lost an average of 13 pounds, while the control group gained an average of 4 pounds. Both groups had a repeat brain scan. When the experimental group was shown pictures of high-calorie foods, the region of the brain that usually responds to fatty, sugary foods showed less activity. This “pleasure” center of the brain typically responds to these foods, setting you up to crave them even more. But this wasn’t the case after people followed the Tufts diet program. And the pleasure center showed more activity when they were shown pictures of healthy foods! What about the control group? No change — their pleasure center continued to respond to those fatty, sugary foods, as would be expected.
Again, this was a small study, and we can’t make concrete conclusions from a study involving just 13 people. However, it’s encouraging. It tells us that we can learn to like and reach for healthier foods, and in addition, we can lose our taste and cravings for less healthy foods.