Eating stimulates brain's endogenous opioid system to signal pleasure and satiety. It leads to widespread opioid release in the brain, signalling feelings of satiety and pleasure.
Eating a delicious food led to increase of pleasant feelings, while consumption of calorie-matched nutritional drink did not. However, both types of meals induced significant release of endogenous opioids in the brain.
Opioids are associated with pleasure and euphoria. The study revealed that a significant amount of endorphins is released in the entire brain after eating delicious and tasteless meal.
The study was conducted using positron emission tomography PET. The participants were injected with a radioactive compound binding to their brain's opioid receptors.
Radioactivity in the brain was measured three times with the PET camera: after a delicious meal, after non delicious meal and after an overnight fast.
The magnitude of the opioid release was independent of the pleasure associated with eating. The results showed that endogenous opioid system regulates both feelings of pleasure and satiety.
The results suggest that overeating may continuously overstimulates the opioid system, this can contributes to development of obesity.
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