Hormone Makes Food More Appetizing

Ghrelin-blocking drugs could fight obesity, but side effects loom
By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 7, 2008 3:35 PM CDT
Hormone Makes Food More Appetizing
Ghrelin is evolutionarily useful because it can make starving people eat normally unappetizing things, but in times of plenty it may cause you to gorge.   (Flickr)

What makes people eat more than their bodies need? It might have a lot to do with the hormone ghrelin, a new study at McGill University finds. The chemical tells the brain to find food more appealing, and causes hunger, LiveScience reports. Work has already started on ghrelin-blocking drugs, but the probability of severe effects on mood is a significant hurdle.

"When you go to the supermarket hungry, every food looks better," said researcher Alain Dagher, a neurologist at McGill. "Now, we've found that it is ghrelin that acts on the brain to make food more appealing." He added: "Obesity must be understood as a brain disease. Obese people eat too much, and this is likely due largely to excess hunger." (More obesity stories.)

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