The secret of the appeal of potato chips, chocolate and peanut butter is revealed

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    Monika Pischetsrieder and colleagues from the University of Erlangen in Germany found that rats, with a choice, gravitate toward food with a certain combination of fats and carbohydrates. The magic formula is 50 to 35, that is, food that contains 35% fat and 50% carbohydrates. And it almost completely coincides with potato chips, chocolate and peanut butter. This study was published March 17 in the journal Nature .

    During evolution, the body has learned to accumulate as many calories as possible on a rainy day. The brain, receiving calories, produces dopamine, encouraging the absorption of nutritious foods. On this basis and amid the availability of food in some people, a tendency to overeat is formed, leading to obesity. Scientists call this phenomenon "hedonic hyperphagia "- a tendency to absorb food that is not associated with the need to replenish energy reserves.

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    There is a point of view that the brain simply prefers high-calorie foods. Researchers checked the validity of this statement - whether experimental rats choose food based on calorie content, or give preference to or combinations of nutrients.

    Three groups of rats received different food: first - chips in unlimited quantity, the second - normal feed, the third - the food with the same ratio of fat and Carbs s as in the chips. Then, with the help of MRI, researchers have studied what parts of the brain are involved in reactions to food.

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    Rats joyfully consumed food with a magic formula of 50:35. Most of the experimental subjects ate one half of the daily norm in one sitting. It is known that carbohydrates are very “fast” calories that the body immediately processes into energy. There are more calories per unit mass of fat, but it’s harder to extract, and they are used “in reserve”. Most likely, in the process of evolution it turned out that the combination of “50 to 35” is the most energy-efficient.

    A person is not a rat, but most people really can not resist the chips, and before eating all the chips from the whole open package. Chocolate is also known not only as a means to quickly saturate, but also food to quickly raise the mood - apparently, the brain rewards its owner for the receipt of energy in the right proportion.

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    Hmm Is it time to have some tea? ..

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