Scientists have discovered that watching someone eat sweets can increase appetite even in people who are already full. This phenomenon is linked to the activity of the brain’s dopamine system. Specialists from Baylor College of Medicine came to this conclusion.
According to an article published in the journal Nature Communications, the experiment was conducted on mice. Seeing their neighbors eat regular or fatty foods had no effect, but when they saw them consume sweets, even well-fed animals started to eat.
When the animals were given drugs that block dopamine receptors, this effect disappeared. According to the researchers, the D1 and D2 receptors increase appetite when seeing someone else eat and trigger the brain to send a signal: “this is pleasant, repeat.”
The head of the study, Dr. Yong Xu, emphasized that simply observing someone eating can lead to overeating.
In today’s world, people are surrounded everywhere — in advertisements, on social media, and on screens — by images of food. Scientists note that understanding this process could be an important step in forming healthy eating habits and controlling excessive appetite.
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