Ice cream and chocolate tell the brain to keep eating

Published on Tuesday 15 September 2009 22:03

WE ALREADY know they are laden with fat and calories and wreak havoc with your figure.

But now it seems that ice cream and chocolate do not go straight to the hips, but to the brain where it sabotages any attempt to stop eating.

The new research explains why it is possible to binge on unhealthy food yet feel hungrier than normal just hours later.

A fatty acid found in dairy foods and beef reverses the brain's in-built alarm system which tells the body when it has had enough to eat, said the study.

When eating, hormones such as leptin and insulin send out signals to the body to suppress the appetite after a while and regulate weight.

But palmitic acid goes straight to the brain and effectively tells it to ignore these signals and carry on eating.

Acids contained in unsaturated fat, such as those found in olive oil, do not have this effect on the brain but palmitic acids is found in burgers, ice-cream and chocolate, for instance.

The research was carried out by professor Dr Deborah Clegg of UT South-western Medical Centre, Dallas.

She said: "Normally our body is primed to say when we've had enough, but that doesn't always happen when we're eating something good."