Images of Food and Impulse Eating

In our next news item, a University of Southern California team assembled a study to track the brain’s response to imagery of fatty or high calorie foods. Thirteen young and obese Hispanic women were tracked for this study. Using MRI technology, they were able to understand the brain’s reaction to various images. The result is that the reward area of the brain was activated most when the study participants viewed images of high calorie foods.

Read the full Medical News Today article at: Seeing Fatty Food Pictures Encourages Impulse Eating

Our Take: We’ve all seen the commercials showing delicious food – fast food, grocery store and restaurant food. The fact is that marketing food products is a multi-billion dollar industry and for good reason, according to this study. Obesity and excess weight is both a psychological and physical disease for many. As a consequence it is important that we fight it from all angles, including developing a plan to eliminate impulse buying and consumption of high fat, high calorie and processed foods.