We all know how hard it is to say no to junk food . nestling , french-fried potatoes , patty , cookies , burger , pizza ( drool ) all stare at us in the supermarket , making the salad streak front infinitely less appealing . But being delicious is not the only reason that we require to consume junk solid food .

scarf out in unhealthy food for a prolonged time period of time can cause excessive activation of the encephalon ’s advantage organization for high - kilocalorie food pool cue , which makes us more likely to choose that oozy chocolate pud over an Malus pumila when a survival is available . However , all may not be lose for us . A unexampled pilot study , release inNutrition & Diabetes , suggests that it may be possible to gradually cultivate the mental capacity to prefer tidy food for thought over rubble foods , reversing the habit-forming power of unhealthy solid food .

It ’s been hump for some time that obesity is associated with mental defectiveness in the reward tour of the brain . Whether this is plastic and can therefore be reversed , however , was unnamed . To shed light on this area , Tufts Universityresearchers recruit 13 levelheaded , adult , overweight or rotund men and woman into the study . Eight of the participants took part in a specific weight unit loss programme designed by the researchers , whereas the continue five acted as controls and were placed on a wait list for the program .

Theintervention groupwas give part - controlled menus , recipe suggestions and high - satiety menu plans . The recipes had specific penning designed to bring down hunger , such as providing 25 % energy from protein and fat and 50 % from low GI carbs . They were also generate info on snack selection and equally spacing meal .

To inquire whether the programme could alter neuronic circuitry , the research worker took functional magnetized resonance imaging ( fMRI ) scans before the participant were randomize into groups , and did this again six calendar month subsequently . The scans were used to investigate activity in a wit region call thestriatumwhich is thought to be critical for reward processing .

When the participants were represent with ikon of healthy , low - calorie foods , theyfoundthat those in the dieting grouping present importantly more activity in their reward centre compare to the control chemical group . Reward center activation also importantly decreased in the dieting mathematical group when image of unhealthful , high - small calorie intellectual nourishment were establish . According to the researchers , thissuggeststhe participant experience an increase reward and enjoyment of healthy food .

“ The weighting red ink programme is specifically design to change how people react to dissimilar foods , and our study shows those who participated in it had an increase desire for healthier foods along with a decreased preference for unhealthy foods , the compound outcome of which are probably decisive for sustainable weight control , ” study author Sai Krupa Das say in anews spillage . “ To the best of our knowledge , this is the first manifestation of this important switch . ”

I ’m sure many have already noticed that this study is very modest , therefore it is difficult to be confident about the outcome . Furthermore , baseline dietary restraintwas different between the two group of participants , which they acknowledge could have strike the outcome . However , bigger studies in the future would come up to these way out and hopefully make the result more watertight .

[ ViaTufts University , Nutrition & DiabetesandBBC News ]