Findings suggest brain pathways to impulsive eating

Very interesting new research from the department of cell biology. The new work

has identified the neural pathways in an insect brain tied to eating for pleasure, a discovery that sheds light on mirror impulsive eating pathways in the human brain.

"We know when insects are hungry, they eat more, become aggressive and are willing to do more work to get the food," said Ping Shen, a UGA associate professor of cellular biology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. "Little is known about the other half—the reward-driven feeding behavior—when the animal is not so hungry but they still get excited about food when they smell something great.

"The fact that a relatively lower animal, a fly larva, actually does this impulsive feeding based on a rewarding cue was a surprise."

The research team led by Shen, who also is a member of the Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute, found that presenting fed fruit fly larvae with appetizing odors caused impulsive feeding of sugar-rich foods.

Obvious implications for a variety of eating disorders but a better understanding of these processes in the brain might also help us head-off the proclivity for bad habits with regard to the ways we think about, and of course consume, food. Great work, Dr. Shen. 

Image: Ping Shen in his lab, courtesy of UGA photo services.