I read the article “How Carbs Can Trigger Food Cravings” by
Anahad O’ Connor on June 27, 2013 at
12:02 am in the New York Times. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/27/how-carbs-can-trigger-foodcravings/?_php=true&_type=blogs&action=click&module=Search®ion=searchResults%230&version=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%3Faction%3Dclick%26region%3DMasthead%26pgtype%3DHomepage%26module%3DSearchSubmit%26contentCollection%3DHomepage%26t%3Dqry929%23%2Fcarbs+lead+to+cravings&_r=0
This article talks about how a new study shows that all calories are not
the same. The new research shows that processed carbs that are known to cause
abrupt spikes and falls in blood sugar stimulate parts of the brain involved in
hunger and cravings. The findings of the new study were published in the “American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition” and suggest that high-glycemic foods, like bagels,
doughnuts and french-fries, influence the brain in a way that might make some
people to overeat.
Dr. David Ludwig, the lead author of the study and the director of the New
Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center at Boston
Children’s Hospital said “For those who are particularly susceptible to
these effects (referring to overeating), avoiding refined carbohydrates might
reduce urges and potentially help control weight.” If people cut out or lower their intake of the
calories leading to cravings, they will eat less therefore seeing a decrease in
weight and they won’t have nearly as much cravings. No matter what diet they
chose, people who have lost a large amount of weight have a hard time keeping
it off. Luckily a few studies of weight loss maintenance, including one in The New England Journal of
Medicine in 2010, showed some success with diets that
limit high-glycemic foods.
Along with raising blood pressure,
sugary food triggers the part of the brain involved with reward. Earlier
studies showed that these parts of the brain light up more for a slice of chocolate cake than for vegetables,
and the activity tends
to be greater in the brains of obese people than it is in those who
are healthier.
To gather more information on this
subject, Dr. Ludwig found a dozen obese men and then fed them milkshakes on two
different occasions separated by several weeks. The milkshakes were nearly
identical both flavored with milk and vanilla, and containing the same amount
of calories, carbohydrates, protein and fat. On one occasion, the shakes were
made with high-glycemic corn syrup; on the other, they were made with
low-glycemic carbohydrates.
As suspected, their blood sugar
rose more quickly after drinking the high-glycemic milkshake. However, the
researchers were surprised in what happened several hours later, about the time
most people are ready for their next meal. They found that blood sugar levels
had plummeted into the hypoglycemic range, the men said they had more hunger,
and brain scans showed greater activity in parts of the brain that regulate
cravings, reward and addictive behaviors. Dr. Gardner of Stanford University, said
“it was clear that the conventional approach of the past few decades was not
working. A more helpful message than “eat less,” he said, may be “eat less
refined carbohydrates and more whole foods.”
This article relates to our
biology class because it has a lot to do with nutrition, it also touches base
on carbs, lipids and proteins which we learned about in biochemistry. I have
also learned about this from my mom who is a health teacher. She always tells
me to limit my intake of foods like bagels and chips so I don’t crave them even
more. I agree with this article because it is really pointing out that high
glycemic foods are bad for you and I agree with that. If we limit our intake of
high glycemic foods we could limit a lot of obesity and have a healthier world.
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Lauren,
ReplyDeleteI found this post very interesting. I chose to read this because I am quite interested in nutrition and I found your title very creative and enticing! I thought this was so interesting especially when you said "A more helpful message than “eat less,” he said, may be “eat less refined carbohydrates and more whole foods.” Because I feel like doctors are always saying to reduce portions or as you said "eat less." I thought you did a great job of making this blog post interesting but also easy to understand. Great job overall!
This blog was off the chain. It was extremely informative about what to eat and what not to eat. I also loved the scientific facts behind the certain foods and how they trigger things in your brain. It was so fascinating. Loved the catchy title. It really grabbed my attention. And nice job using multiple sources and putting them in the actual reading. Great job and good pic. Keep bloggin'.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post. I had already known of that there were good fats and bad fats because of what we had done in class, but this post gave me a deeper understanding of that. I never realized how different the effect the two types of fats had on our bodies were. I'm happy that doctors are saying are instructing us to eat less refined fats rather than telling us to eat less entirely. Great post!
ReplyDeleteYour post really stood out to me, because nutrition was my favorite unit, and not many people post about it. There were several scientific words, but you wrote this post so that it was easy to understand but still informative. I liked how you gave examples of different foods. It was really interesting to learn that high-sugar foods give you more cravings. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post! Your title caught my attention and made me want to keep reading. This post had great information about what to eat and what not to eat. I had no idea that the more you eat a food the more you crave it. When you connected this article to the unit, nutrition, it helped me fully understand the article. Overall great blog post!
ReplyDeleteLauren this was a very interesting post. It would make sense that carbs lead to over eating but it is so sad because carbs are my favorite! The picture you chose caught my eye and made me want to read more, which is sad too because it is just food. The milkshake expierement was very interesting as well and I am glad you added that in your article. Good Job!
ReplyDeleteGreat Job! I thought this was a really interesting article about how its not about just eating less, it about eating less refined carbohydrates. I also agree with this article and it makes a lot of sense, how eating junk food makes you crave more of it. I thought you did a really good job of explaining the article and its importance. Great Job!
ReplyDeleteAwesome Job! Your post was very interesting. I found it interesting that refined carbs can actually make you feel more hungary and raise your blood pressure. The explanation you gave was perfect. It perfectly explained how refined carbs are bad for you. You did a great job with this article.
ReplyDeleteGreat job! I really enjoyed reading this blog post because I am very interested in topics like these and was unaware that certain carbs could trigger cravings and being hungry. I also liked your title because it made me want to read more, and also suggested that the article was going to be about how calories, carbs, and cravings were all connected. This article opened my eyes because now that I think about it, whenever I eat bagels or donuts, I crave them even more. Over all I really liked your post!
ReplyDeleteGood job! I think this is a good thing to point out since us younger people don't eat as well as we should. Knowing what causes you to be hungry is alot better then just telling people that things cause them to be hungrier. This will be really helpful when picking what food to eat.
ReplyDelete