Trigger of binge eating in mice found. Lab rats preferred chips and cakes
Mice can be stimulated into binge eating and they loved it, a new study revealed. And the lab rats were particularly partial to chips, cakes and candy.
A new study coming from Yale University found that mice can be stimulated into binge eating. According to scientists, just by using light probes, mice were determined to continue eating, and they even seemed to like the effects of the stimulus.
Scientists have begun light stimulating an area of the brain which was not previously associated with feeding. When activated by light probes, GABA neurons in an area of the brain called the zona incerta induce mice to return repeatedly to feed.
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“What was most remarkable was the rapidity with which the mice began to eat,” said Anthony van den Pol, co-author of the study. “Although many brain regions contribute to the regulation of energy balance and food intake, I am not aware of any other part of the brain that can be stimulated to generate feeding within two to three seconds.”
But this binge eating trigger was not the only thing that scientists found. Mice seemed to enjoy the stimulation as they preferred to stay in that area of the chamber where zona incerta neurons had been activated even after the stimulus was gone.
And the stimulated mice also had culinary preferences since they were partial to the equivalents of potato chips, cakes and candies, the exact products that humans often use when binge eating.
“The parallel with human binge-eating is interesting,” van den Pol said. “The mice prefer the animal equivalent of potato chips, candy, or cake.”
When the stimulus was gone, the mice returned to their normal weight, scientists reported. They published their study in the journal Science.
While most people, at one point in their lives have episodes of binge eating, the problem can transform itself into a disorder. The new findings could shed some light into human binge eating disorder, described by doctors as a severe, even life-threatening disorder.
Recurrent episodes include eating large quantities of food, often very quickly and to the point of discomfort while also experiencing a feeling of a loss of control during the binge.
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Binge eating is one of the newest eating disorders formally recognised in 2013. The National Eating Disorders Association in the U.S. found that 3.5% of American women and 2.0% of American men had binge eating disorder during their life. BED often begins in the late teens or early 20s, although it has been reported in both young children and older adults.
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