Why Sweets Are Enticing Even After a Big Meal

If you have a sweet tooth, you’ve probably said something along the lines of “there’s always room for dessert.” Well, that saying has some real science behind it, according to a recent study.
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To better understand why it’s so enticing to eat something sweet even after a big meal — sometimes called the “dessert stomach” phenomenon — researchers first turned to mice. After feeding the mice to the point of being fully satiated and then giving them sugar, they found that the same neurons that signaled fullness also released a natural opiate, thus triggering a feeling of reward. When scientists blocked that opiate pathway, mice refrained from eating additional sugar when full.
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As for humans, the team conducted scans on volunteers and found that the same region of the brain reacted to sugar. “From an evolutionary perspective, this makes sense: Sugar is rare in nature, but provides quick energy,” study lead Henning Fenselau explained in a news release. “The brain is programmed to control the intake of sugar whenever it is available.”
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