London: A new study found that the brains of over weight people are wired differently. In the sense that they tend to show varied reactions to food and even the ads of snacks,which appear on internet or TV. In tests, both overweight and lean volunteers made similar decisions when given food choices in the form of images. But it was another story when they were offered an all-you-can-eat buffet of real food including sandwiches, desserts, and drinks. While lean and overweight participants were equally attracted to foods rated as tasty, the latter were more likely to go for the unhealthy, fattening items.
For the study – which was published in the journal eNeuro – the researchers recruited 23 lean and 40 overweight individuals, who were first asked to rate 50 common snack foods presented on a computer screen. They were told to score each item on a five-point scale for healthiness and tastiness. Every participant was then asked to swap a “neutral” food item for another food item from the list of images. Body weight had no bearing on the decisions made during this task, and scans showed no difference in brain activity between lean and overweight volunteers.