Hormonal
Ghrelin signaling activates the mesoaccumbal dopamine system to confer incentive motivation ('wanting') for palatable food, and blocking this pathway suppresses motivated eating behavior.
If you struggle with cravings for specific foods despite being full, it may be due to the hormone ghrelin stimulating your brain's reward system. This is a biological drive for 'wanting' that can override fullness. Strategies that block this specific hormonal signal (like ghrelin antagonists) are being researched to reduce this drive.
We have shown that ghrelin activates the mesoaccumbal dopamine system and that central ghrelin signalling is required for reward from both chemical drugs (eg alcohol) and also from palatable food.
Why this rating
The paper cites multiple rodent studies showing consistent effects of ghrelin and its antagonists on operant responding and dopamine release.
Source
Hedonic and incentive signals for body weight control
Emil Egecioglu et al. · Reviews in Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders · 2011
DOI 10.1007/s11154-011-9166-4
Related findings · Hormonal
- Initial treatment for type 2 diabetes should be a combination of metformin and either an SGLT-2 inhibitor or a GLP-1 receptor agonist to achieve cardiorenal protection, rather than monotherapy or older agents like sulfonylureas.Strong
- For patients with specific monogenic obesity syndromes (leptin deficiency, POMC/PCSK1/LEPR mutations), targeted pharmacotherapy (recombinant leptin or setmelanotide) is highly effective and should be prioritized, unlike in polygenic obesity.Strong
- Continued weekly administration of 2.4 mg subcutaneous semaglutide prevents weight regain and promotes further weight loss in adults with overweight or obesity, whereas switching to placebo results in significant weight regain.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →