March 26, 2025 – Here's something that might surprise you: People with obesity aren't driven to eat more because they find junk foods especially pleasurable. It's actually the opposite. They tend to enjoy food less than people within a healthy weight range do.
But what if helping people enjoy eating more could lead them to lose weight? That's exactly what researchers are exploring.
Over time, eating a consistently high-fat diet trains the brain to see indulgent foods as less satisfying. Lab experiments by scientists at the University of California Berkeley suggest that restoring levels of a protein called neurotensin can rehabilitate the brain's reward center to once again react to indulgent foods.
The study, published today in the journal Nature, was only done in mice, but it reveals important opportunities for exploring new obesity treatments.
