Picture warm, gooey cookies, crunchy candies, velvety cakes, waffle cones piled high with ice cream. Is your mouth watering? Are you craving dessert? Why? What happens in the brain that makes sugary foods so hard to resist?
Zamislite tople, meke kolačiće, hrskave slatkiše, baršunaste kolače, kornete pune sladoleda. Ide li vam slina na usta? Želite li desert? Zašto? Što se događa u mozgu da čini slatku hranu tako neodoljivom?
Sugar is a general term used to describe a class of molecules called carbohydrates, and it's found in a wide variety of food and drink. Just check the labels on sweet products you buy. Glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, lactose, dextrose, and starch are all forms of sugar. So are high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, raw sugar, and honey. And sugar isn't just in candies and desserts, it's also added to tomato sauce, yogurt, dried fruit, flavored waters, or granola bars.
Šećer je općeniti termin koji se koristi za opisivanje vrste molekula koje nazivamo ugljikohidrati, i nalazi se u različitim hranama i pićima. Samo provjerite etikete slatkih proizvoda koje kupujete. Glukoza, fruktoza, saharoza, maltoza, laktoza, dekstroza, i škrob su sve vrste šećera. Također i kukuruzni sirup s puno fruktoze, voćni sok, sirovi šećer, i med. I šećer nije samo u slatkišima i desertima, dodaje se u umak od rajčice, jogurt, sušeno voće, vodu s okusom, ili energetske pločice.
Since sugar is everywhere, it's important to understand how it affects the brain. What happens when sugar hits your tongue? And does eating a little bit of sugar make you crave more?
Pošto je šećer posvuda, važno je razumijeti kako utječe na mozak. Što se događa kad šećer dotakne jezik? I da li jedenje malo šećera čini da ga želite još?
You take a bite of cereal. The sugars it contains activate the sweet-taste receptors, part of the taste buds on the tongue. These receptors send a signal up to the brain stem, and from there, it forks off into many areas of the forebrain, one of which is the cerebral cortex. Different sections of the cerebral cortex process different tastes: bitter, salty, umami, and, in our case, sweet. From here, the signal activates the brain's reward system. This reward system is a series of electrical and chemical pathways across several different regions of the brain. It's a complicated network, but it helps answer a single, subconscious question: should I do that again? That warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you taste Grandma's chocolate cake? That's your reward system saying, "Mmm, yes!" And it's not just activated by food. Socializing, sexual behavior, and drugs are just a few examples of things and experiences that also activate the reward system. But overactivating this reward system kickstarts a series of unfortunate events: loss of control, craving, and increased tolerance to sugar.
Pojedete pahuljice. Šećer koji sadrže aktivira receptore za slatko, dio okusnih pupoljaka na jeziku. Ovi receptori šalju signal u moždano deblo, i odande, razdvajaju se u mnoga područja velikog mozga, jedno od kojih je moždana kora. Različiti dijelovi moždane kore obrađuju različite okuse: gorko, slano, umami, i u našem slučaju, slatko. Odavde, signal aktivira sustav mozga za nagrađivanje. Ovaj sustav je serija kemijskih i električnih puteva preko nekoliko regija mozga. To je složena mreža, ali pomaže odgovoriti na podsvjesno pitanje: trebam li to ponoviti? Taj topli, meki osjećaj koji dobijete kada probate bakin čokoladni kolač To je naš sustav nagrađivanja koji kaže, "Mmm, da!" I ne aktivira ga samo hrana. Druženje, seksualno ponašanje, i droga samo su neki od primjera stvari i iskustava koji također aktiviraju sustav nagrađivanja. Ali pretjerana aktivacija ovog sustava nagrađivanja pokreće seriju nesretnih događaja: gubitak kontrole, žudnju, i povećanu tolerancije na šećer.
Let's get back to our bite of cereal. It travels down into your stomach and eventually into your gut. And guess what? There are sugar receptors here, too. They are not taste buds, but they do send signals telling your brain that you're full or that your body should produce more insulin to deal with the extra sugar you're eating.
Vratimo se na naš griz pahuljica. Putuje dolje u naš trbuh, i konačno, do želuca. I znate li što? I ondje imamo receptore za šećer. Nisu okusni pupoljci, ali šalju signale koji govore mozgu da ste pojeli dovoljno ili da vam tijelo treba proizvesti više inzulina kako bi se nosilo sa šećerom koji jedete.
The major currency of our reward system is dopamine, an important chemical or neurotransmitter. There are many dopamine receptors in the forebrain, but they're not evenly distributed. Certain areas contain dense clusters of receptors, and these dopamine hot spots are a part of our reward system. Drugs like alcohol, nicotine, or heroin send dopamine into overdrive, leading some people to constantly seek that high, in other words, to be addicted. Sugar also causes dopamine to be released, though not as violently as drugs. And sugar is rare among dopamine-inducing foods. Broccoli, for example, has no effect, which probably explains why it's so hard to get kids to eat their veggies.
Glavna deviza našeg sustava nagrađivanja je dopamin, važan kemijski ili neurotransmiter. Postoje mnogi receptori u velikom mozgu, no nisu jednako raspoređeni. Neka područja imaju gušće nakupine receptora, i ova žarišta dopamina su dio našeg sustava nagrađivanja. Opijati kao alkohol, nikotin, ili heroin šalju dopamin u pretjerane razine, što dovodi do toga da neki ljudi stalno traže taj osjeća, drugim riječima, biti ovisan. Šećer također uzrokuje otpuštanje dopamina, no ne tako nasilno kao droge. I šećer je rijedak među hranama koje potiču dopamin. Brokula, na primjer, nema nikakav učinak, što također objašnjava zašto je teško natjerati djecu da jedu povrće.
Speaking of healthy foods, let's say you're hungry and decide to eat a balanced meal. You do, and dopamine levels spike in the reward system hot spots. But if you eat that same dish many days in a row, dopamine levels will spike less and less, eventually leveling out. That's because when it comes to food, the brain evolved to pay special attention to new or different tastes. Why? Two reasons: first, to detect food that's gone bad. And second, because the more variety we have in our diet, the more likely we are to get all the nutrients we need. To keep that variety up, we need to be able to recognize a new food, and more importantly, we need to want to keep eating new foods. And that's why the dopamine levels off when a food becomes boring.
Govoreći o zdravoj ishrani, recimo da ste gladni i želite pojesti uravnotežen obrok. Pojedete, i razine dopamina skoče u sustavu nagrađivanja. Ali ako jedete isto jelo puno dana za redom, razine dopamina će se dizati sve manje i manje, na kraju se izjednačavajući. To je zbog toga što je kada je u pitanju hrana mozak razvijen da posebno pazi na nove okuse. Zašto? Dva razloga: prvi da registrira pokvarenu hranu, i drugi , što je raznolikija naša ishrana, izglednije je da ćemo dobiti sva potrebna hraniva. Kako bi se održala raznolikost, moramo moći prepoznati novu hranu, i što je bitnije, moramo htjeti opet jesti novu hranu. I zato dopamin pada
Now, back to that meal. What happens if in place of the healthy, balanced dish, you eat sugar-rich food instead? If you rarely eat sugar or don't eat much at a time, the effect is similar to that of the balanced meal. But if you eat too much, the dopamine response does not level out. In other words, eating lots of sugar will continue to feel rewarding. In this way, sugar behaves a little bit like a drug. It's one reason people seem to be hooked on sugary foods.
kada hrana postane dosadna. Vratimo se na to jelo. Što se događa ako umjesto zdravih, uravnoteženih jela, pojedete hranu punu šećera? Ako rijetko jedete šećer ili ne jedete puno odjednom, učinak je jednak onom uravnoteženog obroka. Ali ako jedete previše, razina dopamina se ne smanji. Drugim riječima, jesti puno šećera stvarat će osjećaj nagrađivanja. Na ovaj način šećer je pomalo kao droga. To je jedan razlog zbog kojeg se ljudi doimaju ovisnima
So, think back to all those different kinds of sugar.
o slatkoj hrani.
Each one is unique, but every time any sugar is consumed, it kickstarts a domino effect in the brain that sparks a rewarding feeling. Too much, too often, and things can go into overdrive. So, yes, overconsumption of sugar can have addictive effects on the brain, but a wedge of cake once in a while won't hurt you.
Razmislite o svakoj vrsti šećera. Svaka je jedinstvena, ali svaki puta kada konzumiramo šećer, on pokreće domino efekt u mozgu koji aktivira osjećaj nagrađivanja. Previše, prečesto, i stvari mogu biti preopterećene. Pa, pretjerano konzumiranje šećera može imati učinke koji izazivaju ovisnost na mozak,