According to a study conducted by scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York, and just released by the journal Nature Communications , insulin could play a very important role in choosing what we eat. Until now, only its role in regulating blood glucose and the feeling of satiety was known, but new research suggests that this hormone also markedly increases levels of dopamine, a neurotransmitter linked to the brain’s reward and pleasure circuits.
In one of the experiments, mice that ingested foods whose sugars require insulin reported an increase of between 20% and 55% of dopamine in their striatum, the brain region where the effects of that substance are experienced. Liftoff occurred at the margin of the other well – known effect of insulin reabsorption of dopamine in other areas of gray matter, indicating that the animal should stop eating.
Another trial showed that rodents that follow a low-calorie diet have up to ten times more sensitivity to increases in insulin, while the striatum of individuals that ate hypercaloric food barely reacted to the hormone. Therefore, it was harder for them to feel the effects of dopamine.
These findings, extrapolated to humans, suggest that we can make conscious choices of low-fat or high-carbohydrate foods that increase insulin levels. Knowing its true role in the mechanisms of human pleasure can be very helpful in combating obesity and one of its harmful consequences, diabetes 2.
