After a big meal we are full. An extra bite of spaghetti bolognese? Not really! But dessert? We will not let that pass us by! It seems as if there is always a hole for an ice cream, pudding or bowl of yogurt. Do we sometimes have an extra dessert stomach? Or is it something else…
No matter how full you are, there is always room for dessert. Wonderful, isn’t it? But there are a few reasons that dessert is always appropriate.
How the stomach works
The first culprit is the stomach itself. The stomach is a flexible organ that can stretch with the amount of food you eat. If you have eaten a lot, the wall of the stomach relaxes to create more space. How full you feel has to do with the pressure in your stomach. And that in turn is linked to the extent to which the stomach wall is stretched.
Norwegian scientists have discovered that the relaxing reflex of the stomach lining is caused by three factors:
- The sight and smell of food and the process of chewing and swallowing
- The pressure of food in the stomach
- The duodenum ‘tastes’ the parts (nutrients) of the food
All this information goes to the brainstem. This sends a message to the muscles in the stomach wall, which in turn can relax. And so space is created.
Interfering Hormones
A somewhat more common reason that you always have room for dessert: hormones. For example, if you sleep too little, your hormones get confused. Hormones that affect your appetite take over. These hormones make you feel less satisfied after eating, which makes you inclined to continue eating.
The hormone leptin actually inhibits hunger. “If the body has had enough nutrition, more leptin is released and the feeling of satiety arises,” explains nutritional psychologist Marijke Elzinga. But this signal substance does not work well for some people. “People who have a congenital leptin deficiency appear to be able to continue eating without feeling full. These people are almost always seriously overweight.” Elzinga knows that something else is going on in obese people. “They can eat more before they produce enough leptin. In them, leptin also falls below a certain level earlier, which can lead to them being hungry and wanting to eat sooner.”
Sugary dessert
But why does your stomach make extra room for dessert and not pasta? A dessert almost always consists of sugar and fat. Sugar stimulates the reflex that relaxes and stretches the stomach lining. You feel less pressure and therefore the feeling of fullness diminishes. If you eat dessert, it seems that you are not full and you can eat even more. So dessert makes way for itself!
The hormone leptin also plays a role in this. Elzinga: “It is thought that the production of leptin may be related to the nutritional value of the food. For example, sugar can disrupt the production of leptin.” This may explain why sugary desserts do not induce a feeling of satiety. And then that semolina pudding is gone very quickly… “There are also contradictions that this mechanism works more over the long term. It is a topic that needs more research.”
Why do we eat desserts anyway?
In the Middle Ages (and well after) desserts were only on the menu of the well-to-do citizens. The first dessert came in the 18th and 19th centuries; Pudding. This was based on gelatin and corn flour and in the flavors almond, raspberry and lemon.
A sensible dessert
Do you still crave dessert after every meal after reading this article? The solution is very simple: eat a little bit. A small block of (dark) chocolate, a spoonful of pudding or a mini-slice of cake. Or try these healthier dessert recipes. This way you do have the sweet taste, but you consume less sugars, a win-win situation.