Your brain on fat -- mechanisms of overeating
By Sheilah Downey sheilahd at foodconsumer dot org
There's a scientific reason it's almost impossible to put down that juicy hamburger and opt for salad instead.
A specific kind of fat is suspected of zapping people's willpower and even telling the brain to ignore signals of being full, says a study released today.
The high-fat molecules make their way to the brain and stop the appetite-suppressing signals from leptin and insulin, hormones that regulate weight, according to findings from UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
"Normally our body is primed to say when we've had enough, but that doesn't always happen when we're eating something good," said senior author Dr. Deborah Clegg, assistant professor of internal medicine.
Palmitic acid is the high-fat culprit, say researchers, a common saturated fatty acid found in all the good stuff -- butter, cheese, milk and beef.
Once lured in by the fatty acid, the brain plays dead in a sense, ignoring the "good" signals from leptin and insulin.
"What we've shown in this study is that someone's entire brain chemistry can change in a very short period of time," said Clegg. "Our findings suggest that when you eat something high in fat, your brain gets 'hit' with the fatty acids and you become resistant to insulin and leptin. Since you're not being told by the brain to stop eating, you overeat."
Clegg said the effects of the fat "high" last about three days, perhaps explaining why people who overeat on weekends feel particularly hungry on Monday.
Science has known for years that a high-fat diet can cause insulin resistance, but have not pinpointed the mechanism that triggers it, or whether specific types of fat are to blame.
Because the brain incorporates fat into its structure, Clegg and colleagues isolated effects of fat on lab rodent's brains for the study. Three types of fat, palmitic, oleic and monounsaturated, were injected into the rats three times a day.
Though the results were shown in animals, said Clegg, it reinforces dietary recommendations to limit saturated fats.
"It causes you to eat more," she said.
The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
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A recent Research from UT Southwestern Medical Center, led by Dr. Deborah Clegg, showed that palmitic acid (a type of saturated fatty acid) usually found in junk food and ice-cream tells the brain that we need to keep eating. This fat makes us hungrier because it sends signals to the brain to keep eating, and making it harder to feel full.
The Researchers postulated the cause may be due to change in brain chemistry in a very short period of time, as the brain gets 'hit' with these saturated fatty acids (especially the palmitic acid), so it becomes resistant to insulin and leptin.
Only hypophagic primed brain can feel very early satiety that allows it to easily say that it had enough food, and this is the main advantage of my latest scientific diet plan: Elhashemy’s Hypophagic Lifestyle “EHL”, which leads to permanent changes in people’s lifestyle.
According to my clinical observations, “EHL” success is derived from the following factors:
1. The more you are free to eat temptation foods, the longer you will keep on your diet plan, because this potentiates the nucleus accumbens responsible for the reward sensation.
2. The more you boost Elhashemy´s Stomach Satiety Spot "ESSS”, the faster you will feel satiety, thus the more you will tend to eat low-volume meals (Luqaimat).
3. The more frequent you are trained on micro-meals "Luqaimat", the more your brain neuroplasticity becomes acquainted to such small volumes.
I believe that “EHL” will represent for many obese people the release valve starting year 2010, as they will eat any junk food they like in minute volumes (Luqaimat size), and will not feel hungry after such small-volume meals. This is due to the fact that they will be trained to become hypophagic for long (i.e. they feel less appetite and less hunger than normal individuals).
I agree with the general conclusion of the research performed by Dr. Deborah Clegg. However, I believe that there is an exception in which the brain can resist over eating triggered by eating junk food and ice-cream, that is when the obese person reaches the hypophagic state.
I also don't trust the 'research' by Dr Clegg. Palmitic acid and other saturated fats DO NOT cause obesity. Carbohydrates do. Carbs raise blood sugar levels then insulin brings it down (too low) inducing a hunger craving cycle. If you remove carbs from the diet you can eat as much cheese, beef, cream as you like and lose weight. I eat 20 eggs a week, cream, cheese and moderate amount of vegetables - keeping total carbs to less than 50g per day - I've lost weight and don't get sugar cravings anymore. My appetite is fully under control again. It's a great diet. The simple fact is that no calorie restriction diet works because it does not deal with the carbs that keep us hungry.
Beef burgers are healthier than salad, exactly because they supress hunger, but only if you forgo the bun and ketchup (carbs). If you have a salad you will be hingry too soon and tempted to eat carbs. No one craves meat, cheese or eggs, the cravings are always for carbs - cookies, buns, cake. Again it is the carbs not the fats that cause the problem.
Many food scientists know this, but the industry is making big bucks out of the low fat 'healthy eating' scam.
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