My Name is Christine. I Want To Be a Food Addict.
Gene-Jack Wang, a researcher at Brookhaven National Laboratory, released the findings of his study on the use of gastric pacing devices to treat obesity. His report will appear in the Oct. 17 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
To control hunger, the device stimulates the vagus nerve, which then tells the brain that the stomach is full. Gastric pacemakers to treat obesity were first studied in pigs in 1995. Since 2000, GES has been tested in humans to change eating behavior (Shikora, New England Medical Center).
Researchers in Wang's group learned that even though satiety was achieved in the brain (artificially via the pacing device), subjects' brains displayed a 'need' to eat. These desires to eat were shown to be driven by the same neural network that has been linked to cravings in addicts.
Wang says, "We now know the decision to eat involves emotion and the cognitive system." He also states, "I do not think it is surprising they have found a link between drug addiction and overeating. In a way you can think of eating as a 'necessary addiction' - if we were not addicted to eating, most of us would stop eating."
Reuters,UK, Oct. 2, 2006 Food May Be Like A Drug
To control hunger, the device stimulates the vagus nerve, which then tells the brain that the stomach is full. Gastric pacemakers to treat obesity were first studied in pigs in 1995. Since 2000, GES has been tested in humans to change eating behavior (Shikora, New England Medical Center).
Researchers in Wang's group learned that even though satiety was achieved in the brain (artificially via the pacing device), subjects' brains displayed a 'need' to eat. These desires to eat were shown to be driven by the same neural network that has been linked to cravings in addicts.
Wang says, "We now know the decision to eat involves emotion and the cognitive system." He also states, "I do not think it is surprising they have found a link between drug addiction and overeating. In a way you can think of eating as a 'necessary addiction' - if we were not addicted to eating, most of us would stop eating."
Reuters,UK, Oct. 2, 2006 Food May Be Like A Drug
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