STUDYING THE FOOD ADDICTION WHICH BLOCKS SALVATION

We theorize that the physical body is made Immortal by a Tantric
fast. Like the Holy Bible states: "If you break the fast, you must
die the death". Controlling the appetite, by whatever healthful
method available, is a primary concern to those on the True Brahmin
Path to Salvation from Suffering. Jai Om. - Sw. Tantrasangha

Food may be like a drug for some, study shows
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The same brain circuits are involved when
obese people fill their stomachs as when drug addicts think about
drugs, a finding that suggests overeating and addiction may be
linked, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

The finding may help in creating better treatments for obesity -- a
growing problem in the United States and elsewhere.

"We wanted to know why, when people are already full, why people are
still eating a lot," said Dr. Gene-Jack Wang of Brookhaven National
Laboratory in Upton, New York.

"We were able to simulate the process that takes place when the
stomach is full, and for the first time we could see the pathway from
the stomach to the brain that turns 'off' the brain's desire to
continue eating."

Wang and colleagues tested seven obese volunteers who had been fitted
with a gastric stimulator -- a device that tricks the body into
thinking the stomach is full, a state known as satiety.

They used a positron emission tomography or PET scan to see which
parts of the brain activated when the stimulator was activated. They
also carefully questioned their volunteers, all of whom were very
obese, about why and when they overate.

"We thought the activated area (of the brain) must be in the satiety
center, which we learned in medical school is supposed to be in the
hypothalamus," Wang said in a telephone interview.

But they did not see activity there.

"We saw a lot of activity in all areas of the brain, especially in
the hippocampus. That region is related to learning, memory and is
also related to a lot of things such as sensory and motor impulse and
emotional behavior," Wang said.

Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, Wang and colleagues said the hippocampus was 18 percent
more active when the gastric stimulator was on.

The stimulators also sent messages of satiety to brain circuits in
the orbitofrontal cortex and striatum, which have been linked to
craving and desire in cocaine addicts.

"This provides further evidence of the connection between the
hippocampus, the emotions, and the desire to eat, and gives us new
insight into the mechanisms by which obese people use food to soothe
their emotions," said Wang.

The volunteers were all genuinely hungry -- they had been fasting for
16 or 17 hours when the PET scans were run. The stimulator succeeded
in making them feel less hungry, Wang said.

But the surprise was in which brain circuits it used in doing so.

"It was very similar to a study on when cocaine abusers, when they
think of cocaine, they have a craving for cocaine," he said.

"This new pathway should be explored in further studies to determine
if there are any implications for treating or preventing obesity."