Because a combination of fat and carbohydrate attracts humans to stimulate the brain's reward system

byEugene Peretz

Pizza with plenty of cheese and bacon, hamburgers sandwiched between thick patty and thick cheese, the combination of "fat + carbohydrate" will appeal to human's appetite. Such research results have been reported that "human beings appeal to the combination of fat and carbohydrates is related to the brain's compensation system".

Supra-Additive Effects of Combining Fat and Carbohydrate on Food Reward: Cell Metabolism
https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/abstract/S1550-4131(18)30325-5

Combining fat and carbs overloads the brain and makes us overeat
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/combining-fat-carbs-overloads-brain-makes-us-overeat-n883201

He is the director of modern diet and physiological research center at Yale UniversityDana SmallThe professor's research team gave 5 euros (about 650 yen) after giving a standard breakfast to 206 subjects and made 5 euro participate in the "snack auction" of the computer opponent as a base. Subjects bid for the snacks displayed on the computer screen from the original 5 euro at a favorite amount and when they win the computer genuine snacks such as cheese and sweets and the remaining I got the amount, and if I lost to the computer I could not get snacks, but 5 euro was done as it was.

Types of snacks include "mainly made of fat" such as solid cheese, "such as white bread and candy, which is mainly carbohydrate (including sugar)", "both fat and carbohydrate" Chocolate cookies and so on, totaling 39 kinds were prepared. As a result, the bid amount tended to pay a lot of bids for snacks consisting of "both fat and carbohydrate" regardless of the "favorite food" that the subject responded in a prior questionnaire .

byJennifer Pallian

The research team conducted the auction on the subject and scanned the brain waves of the subjects at the same time and investigated which brain area was active at all when bidding on the snack. Then,StriatumYaThalamusIt is suggested that the part related to the reward system such as the dorsal mid - abdomen is most activated at the time of bidding, and the reward system of the brain is greatly involved in evaluating the meal.

Also, when I saw snacks, they asked them to estimate "how much calories the snacks have?" And also how humans can judge the calories of the food from the appearance. As a result, the subjects estimated that calories were estimated almost exactly for "almost fat" foods, but for foods of "mostly carbohydrates" and "fat and carbohydrates", estimates of absolutely missed calories were made.


Mr. Small said about food of modern people, "Foods rich in both fats and carbohydrates such as donuts and hamburgers are rare in nature," fruits to grain and vegetables, and It is said that it is changing greatly from the era when beast and fish meat covered most of meals. It seems that the combination of fat and carbohydrate may excessively stimulate the brain's rewarding mechanism and eat too much as much as drug abuse etc.

The reason why humans ingest a large amount of calories for some reason is that humans feel attracted to diets containing fat and carbohydrates and there is a possibility that estimates of calorie intake by such meals may be low. "It is not a conscious reaction, humans are attracted to the combination of fat and carbohydrate by conscious reaction, it is due to unconscious reactions," Mr. Small said, foods containing a large amount of modern fat and carbohydrates are " It may deceive the brain's circuitry. "