Study Compares Overeating To Drug Addiction

New York, NY (AHN) - A recent study conducted by a team of Brookhaven National Laboratory researchers says overeating is like drug addiction for obese people. The team performed scans on seven overweight people, and the results showed that the areas controlled by satiety were similar to those in drug addicts abusing substances. The researchers analyzed brain impulses in seven overweight individuals. All of them had been fitted with a weight-reduction device called an implantable gastric stimulator (IGS). The device transmits signals that eventually relay satiety messages to the brain so as to reduce one's desire for food. Dr Gene-Jack Wang, at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York, says, "As soon as we saw these scans, immediately it reminded me of what we had studied in drug abuse when people were under a craving situation - the same areas in the brain lit up." The experts believe the findings of their study could pave the way for the discovery of new therapies for obesity.

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