Love eating junk food? Blame your brain

By: Shraddha Rupavate | | Updated: October 21, 2014 6:26 pm

Wondering why you tend to pick junk food over healthy food? Well, scientists reveal that your brain is responsible for the choice of food you make. Also Read - Ganesh Chaturthi 2020: 4 reasons an eco-friendly Ganesha is good for you

Also Read - 7 reasons why the #BeefBan is good

In the study published in Psychological Science, researchers from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital of McGill University and the McGill University Health Centre, suggested that choosing what a person eats is beyond the matter of taste. It’s the brain that decides what food choice you’ll make when to have a glance over a menu in the restaurant or brands in a supermarket. And, sadly their brain decides it based on the food’s caloric content. Also Read - Social media peers can influence your eating habits

For the study, healthy participants were asked to look at pictures of various healthy and unhealthy foods. Later they were told to provide a rough estimate of calorie content of the foods. They were asked which foods would they prefer to consume. Although participants were poor in determining calorie content of the foods, their choices remained concentrated on foods rich in calories content.

Based on the brain scans of the participants, the researchers found that it’s the brain activity that tracked the true caloric content of foods and that the decisions regrading food consumption and caloric density were linked to a part of the brain called the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, an area that encodes the value of stimuli and predicts immediate consumption. (Read: Why we crave for junk foods like chocolate and chips)

According to lead author of the study Dr. Alain Dagher, the results helps in determining how people’s awareness of caloric content influenced the brain areas known to be implicated in evaluating food options. Understanding the reasons for people’s food choices could help to control the factors that lead to obesity, which is linked to many health problems including high blood pressure, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

Reasons why junk food is bad for health

Junk food may be the reason behind your fatigue: Although junk food and fast food makes you feel full and satisfied, they lack all the necessary nutrients like proteins and carbohydrates to keep your body energized and healthy.

If you eat junk food every time you re hungry, you may feel chronically fatigued. It can lower your energy levels to an extent that it may become difficult for you to even perform your daily tasks. Read more about the difference between tiredness and fatigue.

2. Junks food may lead to depression in teenagers: A lot of hormonal changes take place in teenagers which makes them susceptible to mood swings and behavioural changes. And a healthy diet plays an important role in maintaining that hormonal balance. Because junk food lack those essential nutrients, the likelihood of teenagers to suffer from depression is increased by 58 percent. Try these tips to treat depression

3. It impairs digestion: Those who are addicted to fatty junk food are bound to have digestive problems like gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). That s because junk food is deep fried. So, the oil from the junk food gets deposited in the stomach causing acidity. They cause irritation of the stomach lining because they are too spicy, and they also lack fibre which is important for proper digestion. Try these yoga poses to improve digestion.

With inputs from ANI

Photo source: Getty images

Published : October 21, 2014 6:18 pm | Updated:October 21, 2014 6:26 pm

Read Disclaimer