Researchers have now found scientific backing to the universally acknowledged truth that however full you are, there’s always room for pudding.
Dr Nora Volkow said that the junk food culture means the chemical signals produced by the stomach to indicate that we are full can no longer override the brain’s pleasure centres.
Throughout evolution, these two systems have co-existed to control fullness. But now the delicate balance has been disturbed.
“That is what dessert is all about,” the Daily Mail quoted Dr Volkow as saying.
“They are bringing you a food that can overcome the satiety signals, so even though you are full, you eat it because of the pleasure it generates,” said Dr Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Maryland.
Today, when we are always surrounded by desserts and junk food, the balance of the stomach system can easily be disturbed, leaving the signals from the full stomach unable to over-ride the powerful wanting produced by the brain.