When stressed rats eat sugary food after being hungry, their brain's serotonin activity goes up—but if they’ve been eating sugary food for a while and then eat normal food, serotonin activity drops.
Scientific Claim
Re-feeding with palatable food after fasting in stressed rats is associated with increased serotonin turnover in the nucleus accumbens, while re-feeding with standard chow in rats previously fed palatable food is associated with reduced serotonin turnover.
Original Statement
“In contrast, after re-fed with palatable food, stressed chow-fed rats had increased 5-HT turnover, which decreased in Ch re-fed rats...”
Evidence Quality Assessment
Claim Status
overstated
Study Design Support
Design cannot support claim
Appropriate Language Strength
association
Can only show association/correlation
Assessment Explanation
The abstract mentions serotonin turnover changes but incorrectly infers 'positive mood changes' from neurochemistry alone. No mood or behavior was measured. Verb strength must be reduced to association.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
When stressed rats that were hungry ate tasty food, their brain’s 'feel-good' chemical (serotonin) went up; but if they ate plain food instead, that chemical went down — exactly as the claim says.