Page 85 - How It Works - Book Of Amazing Answers To Curious Questions, Volume 05-15

Science

Why do we get cravings?

Is a child destined to develop a taste for all things sweet?
unger and cravings are two very diet can influence our preferences for certain conversation can cause our appetite and
different things. While one is about foods. Scientists have found that flavours are cravings to change. The gut bacteria are also
H survival, the other satisfies the transmitted from mother to baby via the heavily involved; when they break down large
nagging need for something sugar-filled. amniotic fluid surrounding the foetus in the quantities of fibre, they produce a specific
It’s believed we all develop a taste for womb. Once born, the probability of the child compound that is sent to the brain, triggering it
sweetness in infancy, which is said to stem disliking the flavours they have already to feel full and satisfied from the recently
from the predominant sweet taste of our experienced is reduced. ingested meal.
mother’s milk; when we taste it, the brain’s Our gut also plays a large role in cravings. The So should we consider cravings as a sign of
reward centres light up, causing us to derive gut contains an almost separate autonomous food addiction? Although high-sugar and
pleasure from this experience. As we continue system that governs the digestion lining. This high-fat foods exhibit some of the hallmarks of
to consume our mother’s milk this pleasure is vast network of 100 million neurones constantly addiction, the consensus is that it’s actually the
reinforced, which could explain how our sugar samples the ingested food, relaying this behaviour around eating these foods that we
cravings originate. What’s more, our mothers’ information to the brain. This endless are addicted to.

Tricking our senses
People commonly
crave the sweet taste
and melt-in-the- Does a spoon’s colour change the way yoghurt
mouth texture of tastes? In reality it doesn’t, but the colour of
chocolate cutlery can alter how you think something
tastes. A recent study fed a group of volunteers
the same yoghurt using a white and a black
spoon. The results showed that the yoghurt
was perceived to taste sweeter on the white
spoon. Altering the spoon’s weight was then
tested. The lighter spoons caused the
participants to feel the yoghurt was denser and
more luxurious. Scientists are unsure what
mechanism causes these bizarre results, and
want to carry out further research into why we
make these associations.

Can the latest technology
stop cravings?

here’s a microchip that aims to control hormone. By using a ghrelin antagonist,
cravings, developed by Kings College scientists aim to suppress this hormone’s
TLondon’s Centre for Bio-Inspired activity, stopping cravings from ever
Technology. Once implanted in the body, the materialising. This research has
chip will use electrodes to monitor the implications for the cravings of other
signals passing between the gut and the substances too. Scientists have
brain. By ‘listening’ to the communication hypothesised that due to the similarities
between the two organs, the microchip will between this system and the system
be able to recognise signals for cravings and responsible for craving nicotine and alcohol, © Science Museum; Thinkstoc
alter these before they reach the brain. it may be possible to switch off these
Ghrelin is the body’s hunger-inducing cravings as well as those related to food.

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