How a pill might one day reduce our cravings for sweet and fatty foods
Researchers are studying how our brains affect our food choices and tell us we are hungry or full. They hope to develop medication that changes this brain behaviour to fight obesity
Going under the knife to reduce the volume or absorptive area of the stomach - otherwise known as bariatric surgery - has been the most effective treatment for obesity, resulting in rapid sustained weight loss and often resolving type 2 diabetes.
But while for a long time it was thought that the surgery's beneficial effects came from the patient's post-operative inability to consume large meals or absorb as many calories, in recent years scientists have discovered that there is more to it than that.
Bariatric surgery has shown to also change the way the gut-brain axis signals information to the brain regions that regulate appetite and food intake. After the operation, for example, it's been found that patients have a decreased desire to consume fatty foods and prefer less-sweet foods - a reversal of the preferences seen in obesity.
These recent revelations of bariatric surgery have contributed to a rising interest in the gut-brain connection, says Dr John Menzies, a senior research fellow at the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Integrative Physiology.
"Understanding the gut-brain connection may allow us to eventually develop food or medication that mimic the effects of bariatric surgery, without surgery taking place," he says.
Menzies' particular focus is the role of gut hormones called neuropeptides, which are small protein-like molecules that are essential to proper appetite control and which have an unrecognised role in reward-driven eating.