Are we capable of actually training our brains to choose healthier food options? Researchers from Tufts University in Massachusetts have presented promising research suggesting the possibility of just that.
Why is it that we are always so tempted to choose the pizza and soda option over perhaps a salad? Why is it so easy for us to munch away on a bag of chips instead of cutting up some fruit? Beyond the simpler explanation that unhealthier foods tend to appeal more to our sense of taste lies the more complex and often nebulous mechanisms of the human brain.
Certain regions of the brain have been designated part of the ‘pleasure center’ of the brain, namely the limbic system, which involves our emotions and desires. The use of functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, has shown stimulation of the limbic system when an individual consumes unhealthy food.
The researchers of Tufts University observing this effect chose to manipulate the cause that eventually leads to the stimulation of the brain’s pleasure centers. They were successful in conditioning the brains of eight variable subjects to become stimulated with the idea of healthier food. The researchers accomplished this by subjecting the variable individuals to an intervention involving a strict diet particularly high in protein and fiber.
Following this intervention, the pleasure centers of the variable subjects’ brains showed little to no change when presented with the idea of less healthy food. The extent of the conditioning was such that a number of the variable subjects reported having cravings for the healthier food options.
Jen Zuczek, a junior chemistry major, said, “I found it interesting to learn that a person can train their brain to find healthy food options more appealing by just a simple change in diet.”
Zuczek adds, “Gastric surgeries may do some good in weight loss but a person isn’t learning what they should eat to lose that weight. It really does have to be a learning process to see the best outcomes.”
A gastric bypass surgery involves a reduction in the functional size of the stomach which results in weight loss due to decreased consumption of food. However, this surgery and others like it often modify the patient’s personal satisfaction for eating certain foods because many foods become much less appealing to them.
Nurse and Health Professor Joanne McGurl said, “This research appears to provide promising implications in the development of improved behavioral weight loss interventions.”
“By making smarter, low calorie food choices, individuals may have the ability to re-train their brains into believing they actually prefer the lower calorie foods, over a high calorie food selection. Future studies are needed since the researcher’s claims are based on one small pilot study with 13 participants conducted over a 6 month period. As a woman who has personally struggled with trying to lose weight, I find this research encouraging.” McGurl added.
Kerianne Fuoco, a Clinical Lab Science major, said “It makes sense that linking healthy foods with a stimulated ‘reward center’ in the brain has more of an effect than traditional diets.”
Kerianne also brings up a good point in saying, “Now dieting can become more of a positive experience than one that is often dreaded by many.”
Merrily Ervin, coordinator of chemistry and physics, said, “The results of this study are certainly encouraging…it is a long way from something we can count on, but it will be interesting to see if people who want to loose weight can actually condition their brains to pick healthier options.”
While this research is only in its beginning stages, the promising results collected by the researchers of Tufts University provide ample hope. Perhaps we will soon live to see a day where it is not only easier for individuals to eat healthier and lose weight, but also more enjoyable.
IMAGE TAKEN from bbc.com
