Scientists now believe that some obese women may have a chemical imbalance that keeps them from feeling satisfied after they eat food. Ah. This explains that time we ate Fluffernutters until we passed out on the kitchen floor. Scientists conducted a year-long study with 43 young women in which they recorded reactions the women had while drinking chocolate milkshakes. The main factor they were looking for was the flow of dopamine - a chemical messenger that results in feelings of contentment and pleasure:

The researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, took scans showing the flow of blood in the dorsal striatum part of the brain which deals with reward and pleasure.

They then tracked changes in the women’s weight over the following year. Women whose brains responded the least to drinking the milkshake – and who got less pleasure from the treat – were most likely to gain weight, they found.

The women were also tested for a genetic variation which is linked to a lower number of dopamine receptors – parts of the brain which handle the chemical messenger.

Again, those with fewer receptors for dopamine were more likely to put on weight.

This confuses us. If you’re not doing an activity (eating) repeatedly, and, in this case, more than is considered normal or healthy, and not deriving that much pleasure from it, then why continue? If the study showed that women who were obese or tended to overeat received great surges of pleasure or comfort each time they ate, we’d have an easier time understanding this cause and effect.

Le shrug. Time for Fluffernutters.

Women eat more food because of chemical imbalance, say scientists [Daily Mail]