Why fatty food does not let us stick to diet?

Fatty foods may damage the region of brain responsible for regulating a person’s appetite, which could account for why obese people often find it difficult to stick to a diet, scientists have revealed.

A study has found that a diet rich in saturated fats leads to the sort of damage to the brain’s hypothalamus that would normally be seen during ischemic stroke, when the nerves are starved of oxygen.

“the hypothalamus is a small area at the base of the brain containing neurons that control the amount of food we eat and the energy we expend”, the Independent quoted Lynda Williams of the Rowett Institute for Nutrition and Health at Aberdeen University, as telling the British Science Festival.

“however, this control breaks down in obesity – the system appears not to work – and we don’t really know why this happens”, she said.

To help answer the question she used a strain of mice that is susceptible to weight and gain and put half of them on a high fat diet, and the other half on a normal low – fat diet.