How Food Can Change Reward Signalling in the Brain

Plant-based fibre lowers reward signalling for high-calorie foods.

Of course food changes reward signalling — food generates reward in the brain doesn’t it?

Yes, food is a primary reward, so just eating it gives you a reward. But what is more interesting and fascinating is the question of whether certain foods can alter our sense of reward for different types of food.

I’m not sure I understand?

Well, let’s take the example of junk food, or high-calorie food. The standard thinking is that eating high-calorie food triggers high rewards and so we may get addicted and/or crave the same type of food.

We also know that certain conditions will promote this desire for high-calorie food also. This includes stress, because a natural response of stress is to ramp up activity and therefore a need and desire for high-calorie food. As a runner I crave junk food after I race: stress and expended calories drive my brain towards good ‘ole junk food.

Ok, got it and what is this research saying then?

Well, this is something more fascinating that this group of researchers were investigating in an exploratory study. Evelyn Medawar and colleagues from the University of Leipzig in…