Why can’t you resist fast food?

This news has been published in the scientific journal “Obesity Society”. In fact, according to a recent study conducted by scientists at Imperial College of London, if you think that you are unable to resist your appetite in front of a piece of hamburger or a delicious piece of dessert, then perhaps this has nothing to do with your willpower in front of those foods. 

Rather, it could be up to two of the genes that have been identified that are responsible for how the brain responds to a food scene rich in fat or sugars

In order to reach this conclusion, these researchers study the “reaction” of the brain of 45 people between the ages of 19 and 55 years who were shown pictures of different foods after spending a whole night without any food. These individuals’ brain responses were then measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology. 

In this way, it was observed that the brains of people with a specific variant of the FTO gene responded more strongly when these subjects were shown pictures of high-calorie foods. 

Moreover, it turns out that these results do not correlate with these people’s age, their fat percentage, or whether they are men or women. Also, this variant of the FTO gene is known to be a contributing factor to the onset of obesity.

On the other hand, scientists have also identified a link between a person’s brain response to food images and the DRD 2 genes responsible for the way dopamine works in the brain. 

Based on all these data, it appears that these results may open new avenues for finding specific treatments to combat obesity and weight gain.