obesity? Then there is almost no change in brain activity after eating

“This may explain why obese people often eat more than they should,” says lead researcher Merrill Sirli, a professor at UMC in Amsterdam. She is also a professor at Yale University, and was also involved in the research.

Magnetic resonance imaging

The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to measure the brain activity of 28 healthy-weight and 30 obese participants, immediately after they received the 500-calorie food in their stomachs.

The results showed that obese people had no altered brain activity after the meal, while that did change in people with a healthy weight.

Brain dopamine release, as measured by the SPECT scan, was also significantly lower in obese subjects. Dopamine is a substance that affects, among other things, a sense of well-being and a sense of reward.

Turns out, dopamine in obese people is barely measurable. So it could also be an explanation for the weight gain, but it hasn’t really been proven.

Losing weight is hard

The brain responses remained the same even after losing weight. “This can contribute to the weight gain we often see after successful weight loss for the first time,” concludes Searly. “If the brain doesn’t change with it, it’s hard to maintain healthy eating habits.”