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Obese children eat more sweets because of brain features
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
At the University of California, a group of specialists studied children aged 8 to 12. A total of 23 children took part in the study, 10 of whom were overweight, and the rest were completely healthy.
Scientists gave children 1/5 teaspoon of sweetened water to try, and the child did not see what they were given, focusing only on the taste. At the same time, specialists monitored the brain activity of the experiment participants. Scientists also took into account factors that could in one way or another affect the final results (for example, all participants were right-handed, did not suffer from attention deficit, hyperactivity syndrome, anxiety, etc.). Also, all participants noted that they like sugar.
During brain scans, scientists found that children who were obese had increased activity in the insular cortex, amygdala, areas of the brain responsible for emotions, taste, perception, and reward. An interesting feature was that the activity in the striatum (another reward center) was not increased in obese children.
In earlier studies, researchers found that the striatum is associated with obesity in adults, but that the area does not fully develop until adolescence.
The specialists do not associate the obtained results with overeating and sensitivity, but they assume that in obese children, most likely, nutrition is closely connected with reward. In this case, they mean the so-called food reinforcement, i.e. getting pleasure from eating.
Scientists believe that the predisposition to this is due to certain circuits in the brain that force obese children to consume more sweets than their peers.
In another study, scientists made an unexpected discovery. As it turned out, a drug used to treat attention deficit hyperkinesia (increased activity) in children helps to cope with such an eating disorder as uncontrollable overeating.
Binge eating disorder is similar to bulimia, but people who suffer from binge eating do not make themselves vomit. As a result, this disorder leads to the appearance of extra pounds and the development of obesity. In some cases, people completely refuse food in order to lose some weight, but in the end the weight not only returns, but also increases.
People with binge eating disorder are usually treated with psychotherapy, various self-help programs, and support groups.
But at the Lidner Center, experts recommend trying lisdexamfetamine dimesylate, which may be the world's first drug for treating eating disorders, to treat binge eating.
Experts conducted experiments in which lisdexamfetamine dimesilate was compared with the effect of a placebo. The study involved 514 volunteers. Participants were given three doses of the drug - 70, 50 and 30 mg per day. As a result, those participants who took 50 and 70 mg several times a week practically did not overeat during the day. The effectiveness of 30 mg of the drug turned out to be zero. In addition, in the groups that took 50 and 70 mg of the drug, almost half of the participants were able to restrain themselves and not overeat for a month, and in the group taking a placebo, only about 21% of participants achieved such results.
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