Researchers at Macquarie University have found that a Western-style diet low in fruits, vegetables and fiber, interferes with the ability of the body when full to block the pleasant memories we experience at seeing or smelling delicious food. Thus, shedding light on the reason why appetizing treats can be so hard to refuse.

This study found that the part of the brain called the hippocampus may be involved in a progressive deterioration of various cognitive processes that influence eating.

Participants in this study who consumed a western-style diet demonstrated that, “Even though they were full, they still wanted to eat the sweet and fatty junk food”.

Not only that, according to lead researcher Tuki Attuquayefio, “What was even more interesting was that this effect was strongly related to their performance on the learning and memory task, suggesting that there is a link between the two via the hippocampus.”

These findings correlate with animal research that showed people consuming a high fat, high sugar Western-style diet are slower to learn and have a harder time remembering than those consuming a healthier diet.

References:

Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior. (n.d.). Retrieved July 20, 2016, from http://www.ssib.org/web/press2...

Granholm, A., Bimonte-Nelson, H. A., Moore, A. B., Nelson, M. E., Freeman, L. R., & Sambamurti, K. (2008). Effects of a Saturated Fat and High Cholesterol Diet on Memory and Hippocampal Morphology in the Middle-Aged Rat. Journal Of Alzheimer's Disease, 14(2), 133-145.