It's the brain's desire for calories -- not sweetness -- that dominates our desire for sugars, according to the study appearing in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
Both sweet taste and nutrient value register in the striatum, an ancient region of the brain involved in processing rewards. Humans have a sweet tooth as one way to ensure we eat enough to give our large brains enough calories to operate at peak efficiency.
However, the Yale team studying the brains of mice showed that signals for taste and nutrients are processed in two separate areas of the striatum, the ventral and dorsal, respectively. Signals about the value of taste are processed in the ventral striatum while nutritional value was processed in the dorsal striatum. The dorsal striatum remained responsive to energy even when calories fed to mice were paired with a very aversive taste.
The researchers then asked which signal had more control over eating behavior. Mice fed both sugar with sweet taste but no calories or sugar that contained calories but was altered to taste horribly preferred the sugar with energy. When neurons in dorsal striatum were activated by light a technique called optogenetics, mice also ate copious amounts of bad-tasting sugar.
"The sugar-responsive circuitry in the brain is therefore hardwired to prioritize calorie seeking over taste quality," author said.
http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.4224.html
Brain has separate taste and energy neurons!
- 1,495 views
- Added
Edited
Latest News
Chromatin and RNA interacti…
By newseditor
Posted 18 May
Why patients with ARID1A mu…
By newseditor
Posted 18 May
Smuggling small molecule mo…
By newseditor
Posted 18 May
Men with gene mutations are…
By newseditor
Posted 17 May
B cell oxidative phosphoryl…
By newseditor
Posted 17 May
Other Top Stories
An immune cell enzyme in the defense against tuberculosis
Read more
Protocadherin-1is an hantavirus receptor
Read more
Sugar and microbiome in mother's milk influences neonatal rotavirus…
Read more
How antibiotics help spread resistance
Read more
A new mechanism to increase Trypanosoma parasite virulence
Read more
Protocols
Breast cancer-on-chip for p…
By newseditor
Posted 16 May
Methods for making and obse…
By newseditor
Posted 15 May
Mime-seq 2.0: a method to s…
By newseditor
Posted 13 May
Improved detection of DNA r…
By newseditor
Posted 09 May
Single-cell adhesive profil…
By newseditor
Posted 07 May
Publications
Immunotherapy for colorecta…
By newseditor
Posted 18 May
Single-cell multiplex chrom…
By newseditor
Posted 18 May
Autophagy preferentially de…
By newseditor
Posted 18 May
Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, and…
By newseditor
Posted 18 May
GLP-1-directed NMDA recepto…
By newseditor
Posted 18 May
Presentations
Hydrogels in Drug Delivery
By newseditor
Posted 12 Apr
Lipids
By newseditor
Posted 31 Dec
Cell biology of carbohydrat…
By newseditor
Posted 29 Nov
RNA interference (RNAi)
By newseditor
Posted 23 Oct
RNA structure and functions
By newseditor
Posted 19 Oct
Posters
A chemical biology/modular…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Aug
Single-molecule covalent ma…
By newseditor
Posted 04 Jul
ASCO-2020-HEALTH SERVICES R…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-HEAD AND NECK CANCER
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-GENITOURINARY CAN…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar