Eddy Edson
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Brain dopamine responses to ultra-processed milkshakes are highly variable and not significantly related to adiposity in humans
Ultra-processed foods high in fat and sugar may be addictive, in part, due to their purported ability to induce an exaggerated postingestive brain dopamine response akin to drugs of abuse. Using standard [11C]raclopride positron emission tomography (PET) displacement methods used to measure...
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ABSTRACT
Ultra-processed foods high in fat and sugar may be addictive, in part, due to their purported ability to induce an exaggerated postingestive brain dopamine response akin to drugs of abuse. Using standard [11C]raclopride positron emission tomography (PET) displacement methods used to measure brain dopamine responses to addictive drugs, we measured postingestive striatal dopamine responses to an ultra-processed milkshake high in fat and sugar in 50 young, healthy adults over a wide body mass index range (BMI 20-45 kg/m2). Surprisingly, milkshake consumption did not result in significant postingestive dopamine response in the striatum (p=0.62) nor any striatal subregion (p>0.33) and the highly variable interindividual responses were not significantly related to adiposity (BMI: r=0.076, p=0.51; %body fat: r=0.16, p=0.28). Thus, postingestive striatal dopamine responses to an ultra-processed milkshake were likely substantially smaller than many addictive drugs and below the limits of detection using standard PET methods.
From the discussion:
We believe the most likely interpretation of our data is that consuming an ultra-processed353 milkshake high in fat and sugar produces small, but highly variable, changes in postingestive354 striatal dopamine that were unrelated to adiposity but possibly related to perceived hunger and355 hedonic responses. Furthermore, individual postingestive striatal dopamine responses may356 predict food choices given that they correlated with ad libitum consumption of ultra-processed357 cookies high in both fat and sugar, which were the only such items available in a buffet lunch. Our358 results do not discount the experience of individuals who report difficulty in controlling their intake359 of ultra processed foods high in fat and sugar, but rather calls into question the narrative that360 postingestive striatal dopamine responses similar in magnitude to illicit drugs perpetuate361 consumption of ultra-processed foods and promote their excess intake (Hall, Ayuketah et al.362 2019).