Food Found to Affect the Brain’s Reward System

New research shows that exposing rats to a context associated with eating chocolate activates a part of the brain’s reward system known as the orexin system; this helps explain why eating can be triggered by environmental cues even in the absence of hunger. The findings could help scientists develop new drug treatments for overeating.

As the rate of obesity steadily rises in the United States and abroad, researchers are trying to find out more about how palatable foods affect the brain. It seems that especially tasty foods elicit brain responses similar to those elicited by drugs such as cocaine and nicotine, pointing to a general involvement in the brain’s “reward” system.

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Researchers Identify Potential Alternative Drug Treatment

For those who have never used drugs or experienced a dependence upon them, it is hard to understand the draw. Yet, when someone is dependent upon drugs or alcohol, the pleasure center within the brain is hijacked, which disrupts the normal functioning of its reward circuitry.

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All in Our Heads: How the Brain Creates Addiction

By Meghan O’Dell

It wasn’t very long ago that most people considered addiction to be a moral failing rather than a treatable disease-it was largely thought that people who succumbed to drugs and alcohol were simply making poor decisions. Even when the American Medical Association announced in 1950 that alcoholism is a disease, people continued to hold onto the belief that addiction was voluntary. But now scientists have been able to pinpoint exactly what happens in the brain of an addict, proving that addiction is a disease and that the brain can make it very difficult for people to resist the effects of drugs and alcohol.

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Balance Measured in Sober Alcoholics

Long-term alcohol use can wreak havoc on a person’s system, eliminating the ability to function properly in certain areas. Now, new research suggests that while long-term sobriety can help to improve balance problems in alcoholics, some may not be able to regain full stability while standing.

A post in Business Week captures certain elements of this study, including the fact that this lack of stability – which is the result of alcohol-related brain injury – can increase the risk of fall-related injury and death.

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