This is why we give in to our food cravings

If you often give in to your food cravings, you must know that scientists have now found a link between brain activity and self control. According to this new study, it is possible to predict who will give in to food temptations by analysing the activity in the reward areas of the brain in response to pictures of appetizing food. Activity in pre-frontal areas (associated with self-control) shows who can resist tempting food."The results provide initial evidence for neural markers of everyday eating behaviors that can identify individuals who are more likely than others to give in to temptations to eat," said psychological scientists Rich Lopez and Todd Heatherton from Dartmouth College in the US.The study has important implications for people who struggle with problems of overweight.
"This could help to explain a previous finding from our lab that people who show this kind of brain activity the most are also the most likely to gain weight over six months," the researchers noted.
For the study, the researchers recruited 31 female participants to take part in an initial fMRI scanning session. For the task, participants were presented with various images, including some of high-calorie foods. The researchers then measured the activity in the nucleus accumbens (brain activity related to reward) in response to the food-related images.Participants who had relatively higher activity in the nucleus accumbens in response to the food images tended to experience more intense food desires. The study appeared in the journal Psychological Science.