Why junk food makes you want more
Accumbal serotonin hypofunction and dopamine hyperfunction due to chronic stress and palatable food intake in rats
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Rats that ate lots of chocolatey food had more dopamine (a 'feel-good' chemical) in their brain, and when they stopped eating it and got plain food instead, their serotonin (another mood chemical) dropped. Stress made this even more confusing.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
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Evidence Score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Rats that ate lots of chocolatey food had more dopamine (a 'feel-good' chemical) in their brain, and when they stopped eating it and got plain food instead, their serotonin (another mood chemical) dropped. Stress made this even more confusing.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 59 / 72
Evidence Score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Publication
Journal
Nutritional Neuroscience
Year
2024
Authors
C. García-Luna, E. Espitia-Bautista, E. Alvarez-Salas, P. Soberanes-Chávez, P. de Gortari
Related Content
Claims (6)
Auditory feedback during mastication modulates perceived food satiety and influences subsequent food intake via dopaminergic reward pathways.
When rats are stressed and eat sugary food, their brain’s chemical balance changes differently when they’re hungry versus when they eat again—especially in the area linked to pleasure and reward.
Whether a rat is hungry or just ate, and what it’s been eating before, changes the levels of two key brain chemicals in its reward center.
When rats eat lots of sugary, fatty food for a long time, their brain's pleasure center becomes more active with dopamine, which might make them keep eating even when they don't need to.
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.