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Scientists Map Section of Brain Involved With Eating



By Patricia Reaney

L O N D O N, June 28 "?Scientists have mapped the area of the brain involved in eating and have shown for the first time how it reacts to food and how long it takes to convey a feeling of fullness.
The findings, reported in the science journal Nature today, could pave the way for new treatments for obesity and eating disorders and improve understanding about how the brain responds to eating.
The researchers used a sophisticated brain-imaging technique to show that 10 minutes is about the time it takes between feeling pleasantly satisfied and uncomfortably gorged. But in obese people it takes longer.
“The hypothalamus [area of the brain] has been known for years as being related to the regulation of eating, but this is the first study in humans able to directly demonstrate that it undergoes dynamic and physiologic changes as a result,"?said Professor Yijun Liu of the University of Florida in Gainesville.
The scientists also demonstrated a connection between changes in the human brain after eating and levels of glucose and insulin in the blood.
“This could identify the central mechanism regarding regulating eating,"?Liu added in a telephone interview.

Different Bodies, Different Brains
Liu devised a new type of brain-scanning technique called temporal clustering analysis which he and researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio used to map changes in the brain activity of 18 people.
The volunteers fasted for 12 hours and then had their brains scanned continuously for 48 minutes. Ten minutes after the scanning began the volunteers drank a water and sugar solution and the scientists took blood samples to test insulin and glucose levels.
The scientists discovered that there were two peaks in the brain following the drink. In the Nature, report they said the first occurred quickly and was related to swallowing, taste and smell.
The second signal, indicating that the body was full, was about 10 minutes later. It lasted about two minutes and corresponded with the increase in sugar and insulin in the blood. But the scientists said in obese people the second signal was delayed and weaker.
The researchers believe the brain’s delayed response to food could be caused by obesity.

A New View on Eating
“This provides the ability to look over relatively long periods of up to an hour for events occurring in the brain,"?said Dr Peter Fox, of the University of Texas, who participated in the research.
“This give us a very powerful way of looking at eating, and enhances our ability to develop other interventions and techniques to treat obesity,"?he added in a statement.
The research also supports the familiar advice that mothers have been handing down for generations "?eat slowly and don’t gobble your food. Eating slowly could be particularly helpful for obese people whose fullness signals are weaker, according to the researchers.
Nearly a quarter of Americans and a growing number of Europeans are obese. It is a chronic condition which results from a combination of genetic, metabolic and behavioral causes.
 Excess weight increases the risk of other illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.


  (From ABCNEWS)

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