DALLAS—Hunger is not the only reason foods are appealing to us, because satiety doesn’t always stop us from eating. Animal studies by researchers at UT Southwestern have found that the so-called hunger hormone ghrelin might also cause the brain to tell some of us to keep eating enjoyable foods even when we are full.
“What we show is that there may be situations where we are driven to seek out and eat very rewarding foods, even if we’re full, for no other reason than our brain tells us to,” said Dr. Jeffrey Zigman, assistant professor of internal medicine and psychiatry at UT Southwestern and co-senior author of the study to be published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.
The researchers found that the behavior of the mice in the study is similar to pleasure- or reward-seeking behavior seen in other animal studies of addiction. An increased ghrelin level is thought to intensify pleasurable feelings one similar to the action of cocaine or alcohol and Zigman believes ghrelin might also increase rewarding aspects of eating. “They give us sensory pleasure, and they motivate us to work to obtain them,” he said. “They also help us reorganize our memory so that we remember how to get them.”