I have a hard time controlling myself when I eat delicious food. There are many cases where you want to stop at just one piece of chicken or pizza, but you can’t. What is the reason? The answer seems to be in the neck.
Scientists have found that the main reason people continue to eat food is because of the sensory pleasure of swallowing, although they are drawn to the food’s alluring aroma and taste.
According to studyfinds, a science media outlet that reported on the achievements of researchers from the University of Bonn in Germany and the University of Cambridge in the UK, published in the academic journal ‘Current Biology’, the key role in this ‘dietary drama’ is serotonin. Serotonin, called the ‘happiness hormone’, is secreted from the brain when we eat food, creating a sense of joy and reward, which leads us to continue eating food.
But how does the brain know when to release this chemical?
Researchers have discovered that special ‘sensors’ exist in the esophagus, the tube that carries food from the mouth to the stomach. These sensors are activated immediately when we swallow, relaying information to the brain about the food we have just eaten.
Researchers examined fruit fly larvae in detail using cutting-edge equipment. These tiny creatures have a relatively simple nervous system of 10,000 to 15,000 nerve cells (compared to about 100 billion in humans), making them the perfect model to study this complex process.
The researchers used an electron microscope and a supercomputer to create a highly detailed 3D model of the larva’s nervous system. This is to check how the digestive system communicates with the brain when eating food.
Through this work, it was discovered that stretch receptors exist in the esophagus. This receptor is connected to a bundle of six nerve cells in the larva’s brain that can produce serotonin. When the larva swallows food, these nerve cells fire and secrete serotonin, which in turn encourages it to continue eating. The act of swallowing does not just send food to the stomach, but also participates in the secretion of happiness hormones, improving one’s mood. The first author, Andreas Chops, is a researcher in the Department of Molecular Brain Physiology and Behavior at the University of Bonn’s Life and Medical Sciences Institute (LIMES Institute). “These receptors can not only detect whether something is food or not, but also assess its quality,” said Dr. Schoofs. “We only produce serotonin when good quality food is detected, which ensures that the larvae continue to eat,” he said at a press briefing.
Researchers discovered that serotonin helps control swallowing by activating motor neurons that move the esophagus to deliver food to the digestive system. They also found that neurons that detect mechanical stimulation in the esophagus when swallowing food send signals to serotonergic neurons in the brain.
These neurons respond based on the food’s value, such as its taste or nutritional value, and help the body decide whether it needs to swallow more.
This suggests that serotonin not only helps with motor control, but also plays a role in assessing the quality of food before the body continues swallowing it, the authors said.
This study focused on fruit fly larvae. However, researchers believe that this mechanism is so fundamental that it is likely to exist in humans as well.
Park Hae-sik, Donga.com reporter [email protected]
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2024-10-07 13:41:19