Neurotopia (version 2.0) : Do you love to eat? Or do you not love your food en... - The Diigo Meta page

• 05 Nov 08
  

  obesity brain food behavior genetics research

  • obese patients have lower levels of the dopamine D2 receptor in the caudate than lean patients. Low levels of D2 receptors results in lower responses to natural rewards such as food. So this means that people with low levels of D2 receptors could be overeating because food just isn't as "good" to them. It tastes the same (they recorded similar levels of how pleasant a chocolate shake was), but it just doesn't cut it in the brain, possibly prompting patients to continue eating to make up for the food reward they are missing.
  • One of the things I found incredibly cool about this study is how similar the changes in D2 receptors are between obesity and substance addiction, particularly cocaine
  • Over time, the reward processing appears to shift from the ventral to the dorsal striatum, which appears to be at least partially responsible for the craving associated with addiction.
  • Do the obese patients have lower D2 levels in the striatum because they compulsively overeat? Or do they compulsively overeat because they have lower D2 levels in the striatum? While the differences scene in the TAQ1A gene are interesting and imply that some initial differences may be innate, environmental factors may still play a very strong role.

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