14 DAY TRIAL // Millennia ago, gobbling up an entire mammoth, meat, fat and all, was our ancestors' idea of a good meal. Then again, it's not like they enjoyed such rich, succulent lunches all that often.
These days, when food is no longer an issue - well, not in developed countries leastways - medical experts have gotten into the habit of reinforcing time and time again that we should lay off fatty foods, especially if we're counting on enjoying a long and happy life.
In a new study published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, a team of scientists at the University of Montreal in Canada offer yet another argument in favor of low-fat diets.
Thus, the study in question argues that, according to evidence at hand, high-fat foods keep the brain from working properly by impairing a critical pathway known as the mesolimbic dopamine system.
The researchers go on to explain that this so-called mesolimbic dopamine system, which controls motivation, was previously shown to be involved in mood disorders and negative behaviors such as drug addiction and overeating.
“Independent of weight gain and obesity, high-fat feeding can cause impairments in the functioning of the brain circuitry profoundly implicated in mood disorders, drug addiction, and overeating,” explained study leader Stephanie Fulton in an interview.
The specialists believe that, by messing up the mesolimbic dopamine system, high-fat foods make it difficult for people to motivate themselves enough to switch to a healthier diet, even if they know this is what they should do.
Documenting how high-fat foods affect the brain
Writing in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, the University of Montreal specialists explain that, to study the effect foods with a high-fat content have on the brain, they carried out a series of experiments on mice.
In a nutshell, the team kept two groups of mice on a high-fat diet and one other group on a low-fat one. Of the rodents that got to eat plenty of fat, some were given olive oil and others were given palm oil.
After an 8-week period, the rats were subjected to several tests designed to determine how their new diet had affected the dopamine system in their brain. Interestingly, the rodents that had gotten their fat from palm oil did worse.
Specifically, the sensitivity of their dopamine system, which is the brain's reward system, was found to have dampened. What this means is that, to get the same pleasure from eating, they had to eat more.
The scientists suspect the same is true in the case of people and that this explains why people who eat foods containing plenty of fat, especially of the saturated kind, tend to have bigger appetites and are more likely to put on weight.
“A person consuming too much saturated fat may then compensate a reduced reward experience by seeking out and consuming more high-fat and high-sugar foods to get the same level of pleasure or reward,” said researcher Cecile Hryhorczuk.