The Relationship Between Junk Food and Our Memories
Research found memories of fatty foods in our hippocampus intensify our cravings
Hiya!
We’ve learned a lot as a species, like, a lot. Yet, we have no idea how much we don’t know. For instance, we’ve discovered a considerable amount about how we work — our anatomy, biology, sociology, and psychology — but countless mysteries remain. Still, as technology and thus science advances, researchers are chipping away at these mysteries.
Recently, a team of international scientists has deciphered a key component of one of our more elusive relationships — not with each other or ourselves, but with food. More precisely, the scientists identified a direct link between our metabolism and memory for the first time ever via specific neurons dedicated to forming food-related memories that drive our eating behavior.
Our Relationship with Food
We all have a personal relationship with food. Some are healthier than others, but we all have foods we like and don’t like, meals that bring comfort, and specific items we crave.
These days, we have an abundance of food, so much that we can binge eat just because we’re bored. As Guillaume de Lartigue, a medical biochemist at Monell Chemical Senses Center, an independent nonprofit research institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and lead researcher of the study I’ll tell you about soon, said in a news release by the Monell Chemical Senses Center,
“In today’s world, we are constantly bombarded with advertisements and environmental triggers designed to remind us of pleasurable food experiences.”
However, at its heart, food is for survival. As de Lartigue told Tiffany Nieslanik of National Geographic,
“Every animal needs to eat, so we get hunger drives to help with our survival.”
Dana Small, a psychologist, neuroscientist, and the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Metabolism and Brain, expands on that when she explained to Nieslanik how, in early human history, we used sensory cues, such as location, sight, and smell, to locate energy-rich food when calories were scarce.
While much has changed since then, much of the relationship between food and our brains remains the same. The connection seems simple: food is energy we require for survival. However, like many other so-called “simple” things, numerous complexities and layers exist within it.
Traditionally, scientists have characterized two types of hunger. One is metabolic hunger, which refers to the body’s energy needs. The other is hedonic hunger, which occurs when we see or smell food that tempts us to eat even if we don’t require food.
However, scientists recently identified a third type: memory—driven hunger.