OBESITY, which could have fatal consequences if one gets Covid-19, would have been a hard concept for our ancestors to understand. There was little opportunity for it to emerge. Advancements in food preservation and storage, such as processed foods and fridges, opened up an entirely new means of existence. But we have paid for those technologies with what the medical profession calls “diseases of affluence,” such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.
We were not biologically designed to have food, especially high-calorie food, perpetually available.
“The widespread availability of energy-dense, rewarding foods is correlated with the increased incidence of obesity across the globe,” say the authors of a new study funded by The National Institute of General Medical Sciences and University of Virginia Brain Institute and published in the journal Current Biology
The team, led by University of Virginia biology professor Ali Güler, discovered a link between the brain’s biological clock and pleasure centre — a link that is driving obesity.
Humans were designed to stuff themselves when food is available. Our ancestors often didn’t know when the next meal would arrive. That’s no longer the case. High- calorie foods, those crammed with sugars and carbohydrates, activate our brain’s pleasure centre; the good feeling is a biological signal for satiation. We feel satisfied then become addicted to and dependent on that feeling. Processed food companies have long exploited this fact. The ability to store food for extended periods of time, a relatively new capability, ensured that our next meal—our next 50 meals—are waiting in the kitchen.
Obesity: blame it on the fridge, says new study
