Body drugs animate cravings

The body's own endocannabinoids animate cravings for greasy foods

07/07/2011

Cravings seduce most people into unbridled eating. Those who are unlucky suffer as a result of obesity or even obesity. Especially those who try to reduce their body circumference by means of a diet, will be confronted again and again with veritable food cravings. Scientists at the University of California Irvine have found that these attacks are promoted by an endogenous substance that is similar in its mode of action to the cannabis plant. The substance is formed in the intestine and leads to unrestrained eating.

Activation of fat intake dates back to ancient times
The desire for fatty foods is not a byproduct of western industrialized countries, the researchers suspect. „From an evolutionary point of view, it is absolutely necessary for animals to consume fats: they are not found in nature, but they are crucial for the function of the body's cells, "said study director Daniele Piomelli from the University of California. The researchers suggest that humans have inherited the urge for fat from their ancestors to get enough fat. Today, however, the quite important flavor carrier is on everyone's lips. Every stand-up and ready meal is prepared with excessive single fat. The more fat, the greater the taste experience. The food industry knows this too and therefore uses fat to the food. Today, as everyone knows, mass consumption of fat leads to obesity, metabolic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

To decipher the mode of action of the cannabinoid substance, the scientists licked rats on corn oil emulsions in a test setup. However, they prevented a swallowing of the oil. Now they could study the effects of fat taste on the organism. The taste of the corn oil triggered the production of endocannabinoids in the animals. At the same time, the researchers measured the concentration of endocannabinoids in the individual brain areas and different body regions. However, the values ​​only increased in the front area of ​​the digestive tract. An increase in the brain, however, the scientists could not make out.

Distribution could be blocked
Now the team around Daniele Piomelli suspects that the drug works like a switch in the intestinal cells. If the body's own drugs are activated, the cravings for fat are triggered. „This is the first evidence that endocannabinoids in the gut play an important role in the regulation of fat intake“. The substance causes a release of the digestive juices to activate hunger. Now this hypothesis is to be proven in further research units. For example, the sensor could be blocked to release the substance in order to stop hunger in obese patients. The entire study was in the journal „Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences“ (PNAS). (Sb)

Also read:
Fat substitutes harmful to health?
Diet study: lots of protein and little starch
Study shows: a lot of protein helps to lose weight
Slimming products often without effect
Diet in Naturopathy
Danger of cancer: Too much acrylamide in food

Picture: Rainer Sturm