One might be forgiven for thinking that a very overweight person is overweight because they like food more than a person who doesn't eat as much.
Turns out the opposite may be true.
We need food for fuel, nutrition and we eat healthy foods high in vitamins, minerals, fiber, iron and other nutrients to hopefully prevent certain conditions. But the fact is that many of us also eat for enjoyment. Food tastes good. Period.
Our preferences are wide and often culturally oriented. A French person may crave strong cheeses, washed down with a good white wine. A Japanese person might dream about some freshly made sushi, accompanied by a nice cup of Saki.
But we all love certain foods, no matter where we grew up.
Research suggests that over eaters many not actually get the same enjoyment from food as others, and overeat to compensate. They tend to favor high calorie, high fat foods in order to get the strong taste they like. To get the same pleasure an average eater gets from food, they have to eat much more.
Research has also shown that people with a variant gene called Taq1A1 tend to over eat and be over weight. Taq1A1 has been linked to lower dopamine receptors. When we experience pleasure, dopamine is released by the brain. Therefore over wight people with the Taq1A1 gene over compensate with food to increase their dopamine levels.
For more on this study, done by the Oregon Research Institute, Yale University and the University of Texas at Austin click here :
http://www.healthnews.com/nutrition-diet/new-evidence-the-brain-s-role-o...
Tell Us
Most of us overeat certain foods at times. It might be pasta, or chips, or cookies. What foods trigger you to overeat? Do you find that you need to eat more of certain foods to get the same satisfaction as people you know who eat less?