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What Part of the Brain Controls Pleasure:

Dopamine and Obesity

CA Prescott,Yahoo! Contributor Network

May 20, 2010 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

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The brain's pleasure center is associated with telling us when something is enjoyable, and

also prompting us to want to repeat the same activity, or to desire more of what caused the

actual feeling of enjoyment. Recent studies performed have demonstrated that certain

individuals carry a specific gene that reduces dopamine responses in the brain's pleasure

center. People who carry this gene are genetically more susceptible to various forms ofaddiction. Reduced brain activity linked to dopamine may contribute to drug addiction and

obesity. Dopamine levels from the limbic system, moderate our responses to things like food,

recreational drugs, and sexual arousal. According to MedTerms, "Dopamine is classified as a

catecholamine (a class of molecules that serve as neurotransmitters and hormones). It is a

monoamine (a compound containing nitrogen formed from ammonia by replacement of one

or more of the hydrogen atoms by hydrocarbon radicals). Dopamine is a precursor

(forerunner) of adrenaline and a closely related molecule, noradrenaline. Dopamine is formed

by the decarboxylation (removal of a carboxyl group) from dopa."

The article, Brain Dopamine and Obesity states, "Dopamine modulates motivation and

reward circuits and hence dopamine deficiency in obese individuals may perpetuatepathological eating as a means to compensate for decreased activation of these circuits.

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Strategies aimed at improving dopamine function may be beneficial in the treatment of obese

individuals."

Often society's perception of an obese person is based upon the common belief that the

individual enjoys food, more than a person of average size and weight. In fact studies show

that the opposite is actually true for obese people, because they are constantly trying tocompensate for a lack of enjoyment in the pleasure center of the brain, which leads them to

eat increasing amounts of highly caloric foods.

According to WebMD:

Overeating further dulls food enjoyment and locks people in a vicious circle. The finding

comes from real-time brain-imaging studies in obese and lean women by Eric Stice, PhD, of

theOregon Research Institute, and colleagues. "We originally thought obese people would

experience more reward from food. But we see obese people only anticipate more reward;

they get less reward. It is an ironic process," Stice tells WebMD. Stice's team showed women

a picture of a chocolate milkshake and a picture of a glass of water. The heavier the woman,

the more active the pleasure center in her brain. Then the women actually tasted a chocolatemilkshake or a neutral solution. Heavier women had less activity in their brains' pleasure

centers.

"Probably this is related to downregulation of the brain's reward circuit. The more you do

things that are rewarding, the less reward you see," Stice says. "The more you eat an

unhealthy diet, the more you see this blunted pleasure response to high-energy foods."

Stice was not asserting that metabolic function has no role in obesity. He was saying that

when looking at obesity, an impaired pleasure system in the brain should certainly be

considered, in addition to metabolic function. Stice has looked at how dietary modifications,

by an obese person can actually alter the vicious cycle. Over time, when obese people stop

eating the high calorie and fat foods the cravings go down. For many, dietary modifications

may serve as the key to combating an impaired pleasure center in the brain.

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