Further reading
I didn't come up with the idea that excessive food reward increases calorie intake and can lead to obesity, far from it. The idea has been floating around the scientific literature for decades. In 1976, after conducting an interesting diet study in humans, Dr. Michel Cabanac stated that the "palatability of the diet influences the set point of the ponderostat [system that regulates body fatness]" (1).
Currently there is a growing consensus that food reward/palatability is a major contributor to obesity. This is reflected by the proliferation of review articles appearing in high-profile journals. For the scientists in the audience who want more detail than I provide on my blog, here are some of the reviews I've read and enjoyed. These were written by some of the leading scientists in the study of food reward and hedonics:
Palatability of food and the ponderostat. Michel Cabanac, 1989.
Food reward, hyperphagia and obesity. Hans-Rudolf Berthoud et al., 2011.
Reward mechanisms in obesity: new insights and future directions. Paul J. Kenny, 2011.
Relation of obesity to consummatory and anticipatory food reward. Eric Stice, 2009.
Hedonic and incentive signals for body weight control. Emil Egecioglu et al., 2011.
Homeostatic and hedonic signals interact in the control of food intake. Michael Lutter and Eric J. Nestler, 2009.
Opioids as agents of reward-related feeding: a consideration of the evidence. Allen S. Levine and Charles J. Billington, 2004.
Central opioids and consumption of sweet tastants: when reward outweighs homeostasis. Pawel K. Olszewski and Allen S. Levine, 2007.
Oral and postoral determinants of food reward. Anthony Sclafani, 2004.
Reduced dopaminergic tone in hypothalamic neural circuits: expression of a "thrifty" genotype underlying the metabolic syndrome? Hanno Pijl, 2003.
If you can read all these papers and still not believe in the food reward hypothesis... you deserve some kind of award.
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