Calorie Foods Increase Cravings

Viewing pictures of high-calorie foods may trigger cravings for fattening foods, especially if consuming a sugar-sweetened beverage at the same time, according to new research presented at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting. The findings suggest drinking a sugary beverage while viewing fatty foods activates appetite and reward centers in the brain, which may play a role in obesity.

Researchers at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine used functional MRI to measure the brain responses of 13 obese, Hispanic women ranging in age from 15 to 25 years. Women were chosen because prior research has shown that they are more responsive to food cues; the study group was narrowed to Hispanic women because of the high risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes in the Hispanic community.

The women’s brain responses were scanned twice as they looked at pictures of high-calorie foods, such as hamburgers, cookies and cakes, and low-calorie foods, such as fruits and vegetables. After seeing the high-calorie and low-calorie groupings, the participants rated their hunger and desire for sweet or savory foods on a scale from one to 10.

Halfway through the scans, the women drank 50 g of glucose, which is similar to drinking a can of sugar-sweetened soda. In a separate instance, they drank 50 g of fructose.

The researchers found that the reward areas in the women’s brains were activated when they looked at high-calorie foods. Interestingly, consuming the glucose and fructose increased the participants’ hunger and desire for savory foods. The researchers pointed out that fructose resulted in more intense cravings and hunger among the women than glucose.

The researchers said they limited the study to Hispanic women because research has indicated women are more sensitive to food cues, and the Hispanic community has a high incidence of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

“Studies have shown that advertisements featuring food make us think of eating, but our research looked at how the brain responds to food cues and how that increases hunger and desire for certain foods," said Kathleen Page, principal investigator and assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School. “This stimulation of the brain’s reward areas may contribute to overeating and obesity, and has important public health implications."