New Study Says Womens' Brains React Differently to Food Then Men's Brains Do
A new study reveals that womens' brains are hard-wired to urge them to overeat more when faced with their favorite foods. After being taught techniques to reduce hunger cravings, test subjects fasted overnight then were faced with all their favorite treats. The subjects used the mental techniques to reduce hunger and distract themselves from the treats, while a brain scan watched what happened inside their brains. While all subjects said the techniques helped them feel less hungry, the womens' brains showed a high level of activity in the part of the brain that urges them to eat. That really surprised the researchers. Why were the womens' brains so determined to make them overeat? The answer is most likely evolutionary in nature.
"Even though the women said they were less hungry when trying to inhibit their response to the food, their brains were still firing away in the regions that control the drive to eat," Wang said.
Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Addiction and a co-author of the paper, said the gender difference was a surprise and may be because of different nutritional needs for men and women, although she stressed that idea is speculative.
Because the traditional role of the female is to provide nutrition to children, the female brain may be hard-wired to eat when foods are available, she said. The next step is to see if female hormones are reacting directly with those specific parts of the brain.
"In our society we are being constantly being bombarded by food stimulus," she said in a telephone interview, so understanding the brain's response can help in developing ways to resist that stimulus.
Eric Stice, an expert on eating disorders at the Oregon Research Institute, called the findings provocative.
"I think it is very possible that the differences in hunger suppression may contribute to gender differences in eating disorders and that they are likely linked to gender differences in estrogen and related hormones," said Stice, who was not part of Wang's research team.
This is just another one of those studies that shows that there is more going on in weight gain than just calories in and calories expended. It's a complex process, and now we learn that womens' and mens' brains don't even respond the same way when they see food. None of this is terribly helpful for dieters, unfortunately.
