Why do we like fat so much? What makes a plate of French fries irresistible to us and that we cannot stop eating after trying them? A natural substance similar to marijuana is to blame according to a study by the University of California Irvine (USA).
According to Daniell Piomelli and his colleagues, the fats in certain foods produce endocannabinoids , chemicals similar to marijuana related to euphoria but also hunger, in our digestive system. Sugars and proteins, the researchers say, do not have this effect.
The process begins on the tongue, where fats from food generate a signal that travels to the brain and then through the vagus nerve to the intestines, resulting in increased appetite , probably due to the release of digestive molecules associated with it. hunger. Piomelli says that, from an evolutionary point of view, there is an urgent need for animals to consume fats , which are scarce in nature but are crucial for cells to function. In today's society, however, fats are too "within reach", and the innate tendency to eat them leads to problems such as obesity, diabetes and even cancer, they conclude in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . After the finding, the scientists suggest that it would be possible to reverse this tendency to abuse fats using drugs that block cannabinoid receptors.
