Natural Marijuana-Like Chemicals In Our Bodies Make Fatty Foods Hard To Resist

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From the 5 July 2011 Medical News Today item

 

Recent studies have revealed potato chips and french fries to be the worst contributors to weight gain – and with good reason. Have you ever wondered why you can’t eat just one chip or a single fry? It’s not just the carbohydratesat fault.

UC Irvine researchers Daniele Piomelli, Nicholas DiPatrizio and colleagues found that fats in these foods make them nearly irresistible and trigger a surprising biological mechanism that likely drives our gluttonous behavior. The apparent culprit? Natural marijuana-like chemicals in the body called endocannabinoids.

In their study, the Piomelli team discovered that when rats tasted something fatty, cells in their upper gut started producing endocannabinoids. Sugars and proteins, the researchers noted, did not have this effect. ….

…Study results appear this week in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A link to the abstract of the research article may be found here.
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