Calorie Kick: Desire for sweets not only a matter of taste
By Amy Maxmen
Brains love cakes and cookies and Krispy Kremes, and not just for their taste. Calories feel good too.
Chemical fireworks in the brain’s reward system explode in response to calories, independent of flavor, suggests a new study of mice reported in the March 27 Neuron.
Even when researchers eliminated mice’s ability to taste food or liquid, the mice consistently chose sugary water over the diet version. The mice were also prevented from smelling or orally sensing texture in the study, by researchers from Duke University in Durham, N.C., and the University of Porto in Portugal.