Since Thanksgiving is just around the corner, I thought this article would be perfect to cover. According to the article, it is possible that the dorsal hippocampus neurons are linked to episodic memories. Episodic memories are also known as memories that can be linked to an event that has happened recently. A good example of how this works, is when someone eats a sweet snack in the middle of the day and later that day when they are presented with the option of consuming a dessert they may say no because of the memory of already eating something sweet earlier in the day. What these researchers think is that this link is particularly more evident when eating sweet foods over those that are not. Also this link shows that it helps in understanding how we are able to control our eating habits as well. They also found that when testing this out on mice, the inactivation of the dorsal hippocampal neurons after eating a sweet meal, the onset of wanting to eat again soon after was more prevalent than when the dorsal hippocampal neurons were active. It really seems that researchers might be closing in on an idea of why we are starting to eat more and more sweets or even the reason for the rise of obesity. Although the latter of the two, in my opinion, also has to do with the foods that we are surrounded with in society today.
It will be interesting to see more results from experimenting with the dorsal hippocampus neurons and their relationship with sweet foods.
Here is the article: Georgia State University. "Eating sweets forms memories that may control eating habits." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 13 November 2015. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151113051128.htm.
This is interesting especially since thanksgiving and Christmas is around the corner and I have very great memories around this time and I love food. I think we are eating more and more sweet because they are readily available and cheap. Maybe they can come up with a way to decrease the craving of sweets and other unhealthy foods.
ReplyDeleteI saw a documentary once that talked about our addiction to sugar being much like an addiction to cocaine, or some other scheduled drug. I forget which. But it's interesting to think about.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the holidays always lead to me eating more sweets than I should!
ReplyDeleteVery intriguing... I wonder how easy it is to activate/inactivate those neurons because some days I experience that behavior of saying no to sweets if I've already had some that day, but others, there's no holding back!
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting. I am curious to see where this research goes
ReplyDeleteThis could have big implications for those who struggle with their weight or have a sweet tooth, which cmon we all like to indulge in a delicious piece of cake every now and then. But I agree that our society does have a problem with the foods we consume and if we could start to better understand the system that causes some of these cravings then we are one step closer to finding a solution to those who need that little extra step.
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