There May Be an On-Off Switch for Eating

Many disregulated eaters say they feel as if they have an on-off switch with eating. Now, it seems that researchers may have found evidence to back up this belief.  At least in mice, there seems to be an open-shut valve when it comes to food. Through experiments which compelled full mice to keep eating and hungry mice to avoid food, researchers have identified the cells that control our appetite switch. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill scientists used a laser on the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (or BNST) in the brains of mice to either excite or quiet them (Science News, 11/2/13, “On-off switch for eating discovered”). “When a laser activated these BNST neurons, the mice became ravenous…As soon as you turn it on, they start eating and they don’t stop until you turn it off,” says Garret Stuber, one of the study leaders. The laser also was able to silence a mouse’s urge to eat, proving that appetite appears to be regulated by messages that reach—or don’t reach—the lateral hypothalamus. Researchers don’t know yet whether these mice would have stopped eating on their own or continued until they became sick. Says Stuber: “We think of feeding in terms of metabolism and body stuff,” he says. “But at the end of the day, it’s controlled by the brain.” The article notes that “This precise control of feeding behavior underscores the fact that eating disorders occur when brain systems go awry.” Of course, we don’t know if huma...
Source: Normal Eating - Category: Eating Disorders Authors: Source Type: blogs