NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS MEDICATION

I SURE HOPE WE HAVE MORE CHOICE THAN A RAT!

I just read an article that triggers some anger in my brain. Anger because the article is just one more example of making a natural occurrence into a medical condition and jumping at the chance to make a lot of money from proprietary drugs to control it.

Some researchers report that they found that if we just anticipate eating a tasty food, that we may be triggering an area of the brain that is associated with reward.

What the scientists seem to have taken away from the studies that were conducted is that the anticipation of eating chocolate stimulated a part of a rat’s brain called the orexin system, and that activated orexin neurons – which are associated with eating especially tasty foods as well as associated with taking addictive drugs.

They then looked at the possibility of developing drugs to regulate orexin as well as other brain systems to help regulate food reward behaviours. It seems that they think that a pleasant anticipation of eating something really good can make us overeat and get fat.

The Lead researcher Derrick Choi said: “It entirely possible that future treatments for obesity will involve a combination of lifestyle changes as well as pharmacological therapies aimed at orexin and other brain systems, to regulate food reward-related behaviors.”

“Our research program is focused on identifying brain systems that are activated by palatable food intake. The hypothalamic orexin system is known to promote wakefulness and arousal; however, it is now clear that this system also participates in the regulation of reward-related behaviors, including overconsumption of palatable foods,” said Choi.

The fact that orexin system in rats “participates in the regulation of food reward behaviours, including overconsumption of palatable foods” seems to have set off some other area of the researcher’s brains that triggers rewards for making money from drugs that are not needed. They don’t say if they found the same result in humans, and if they do, will that mean that we will lose the pleasure we feel at the prospect of eating food we love?

I know of no drug in any amount that has no side effects, and sometimes the full extent of those effects may not appear for decades. To add another pharmacological assault to the brain seems to me to be unconscionable!

There are natural ways to help us to feel satisfied with reasonable amounts of any kinds of foods, even our favorites. We know that having fiber at the beginning of a meal promotes a feeling of fullness sooner than just having meat and potatoes. There is long standing evidence for having a bowl of soup before eating a main meal to curb the appetite and craving. Behavior modification for those with a bigger problem has also proved effective. None of these have side effects…only benefits.

We know that when we have superior nutrition, we lose cravings and the desire to overeat! If you want to explore a way to get nutritional help to balance your body and lose the cravings, click here and go to page 15. http://bit.ly/1Y7kX

Let’s get back to the concept of personal responsibility for our actions. Eating too much food makes us fat. Eating the wrong kinds of foods makes us fat. Other than the extremely rare disease that causes constant, unremitting, uncontrollable hunger, and for which there is no medication, we have it in our power to take whatever steps are necessary to reach a point where we eat reasonably.

The researchers trained rats to expect a piece of chocolate in certain environmental conditions. They found that when mice were placed in the same environment with no chocolate, the orexin system of the brain was still stimulated, perhaps explaining why people have a tendency to overeat in situations where they have previously eaten well, even when they are not hungry.

Lead researcher Derrick Choi said: “It entirely possible that future treatments for obesity will involve a combination of lifestyle changes as well as pharmacological therapies aimed at orexin and other brain systems, to regulate food reward-related behaviors.”

“Our research program is focused on identifying brain systems that are activated by palatable food intake. The hypothalamic orexin system is known to promote wakefulness and arousal; however, it is now clear that this system also participates in the regulation of reward-related behaviors, including overconsumption of palatable foods,” said Choi.

Simply expecting to eat a tasty food can trigger the areas of the brain associated with reward, raising the possibility that drugs could be developed that could achieve these goals, but at what cost, both in possible loss of pleasure and in short and long term effects of a drug that tampers with brain function?

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