Capitalism's Weighty Toll: Impaired Neuronal Responses and the Obesity Epidemic
According to a study published in nature, our food is poisoning us. No surprise, right? In simple terms, this study looked at how the brain responds to signals from food after we eat. In rodents, it was found that when these signals are impaired, it can lead to abnormal eating behaviours and obesity. To understand if this applies to humans, the researchers conducted a study with two groups: one with healthy body weight and the other with obesity. They gave the participants infusions of glucose, fat, and water, and measured brain activity, hormone levels, and hunger. They found that in people with a healthy weight, the brain responded to these nutrients, but in those with obesity, the brain's response was severely impaired. They also found that even after losing weight through dieting, the impaired response in the brain didn't improve. This suggests that problems with how the brain responds to food signals may contribute to overeating and obesity, and could explain why many