[HN Gopher] Cravings for fatty foods traced to gut-brain connection
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Cravings for fatty foods traced to gut-brain connection
        
       Author : gmays
       Score  : 61 points
       Date   : 2022-09-09 17:27 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu)
 (TXT) w3m dump (zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu)
        
       | snoopy_telex wrote:
       | I've always been told to listen to my gut... so here's to some
       | more tasty fries!
        
         | ChuckNorris89 wrote:
         | Fries are mainly carbs not fats though.
        
           | k__ wrote:
           | To how much %?
        
             | BlargMcLarg wrote:
             | 60-65ish fat, 30-35ish carbs. Still only 200kcal per 100g
             | and we aren't considering sauces used. There's a lot worse
             | you can get per 100g.
        
           | have_faith wrote:
           | Depends how thin you cut the fries, more surface area can
           | hold onto more oil.
        
       | paulpauper wrote:
       | maybe the solution is as simple as something to dull taste
        
         | bigmattystyles wrote:
         | That's what Tournesol does in Tintin but for alcohol, makes it
         | taste super gross. (link but in French
         | https://tintinomania.com/tintin-picaros-vaccin-antialcool)
        
       | jonnycomputer wrote:
       | Fatty foods are good. No one sits around with a spoon eating
       | butter. Just don't pair high fat with high carbs; that combo
       | leads to over-eating everytime.
        
         | astrange wrote:
         | > No one sits around with a spoon eating butter.
         | 
         | Tibetans do: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter_tea
         | 
         | Californians, who love pretending to be Tibetan, call it
         | bulletproof coffee.
        
         | melony wrote:
         | Steaks for every meal sounds like an ideal, if not pricey,
         | diet.
        
           | WastingMyTime89 wrote:
           | Extremely non environmental friendly however. Beef should be
           | a treat.
        
           | isthisthingon99 wrote:
           | I moved to the middle of nowhere-ish, where there is zero
           | food delivery (except Amazon).
           | 
           | I've been eating steak for dinner for a long time, and yes
           | it's expensive. But I feel great, and I lost weight.
        
       | fierro wrote:
       | Weird that this is framed as a bad thing. Fats are good.
        
       | jmount wrote:
       | Seems a bit circular in what such audiences seem to expect.
       | 
       | Any dietary craving likely have, in addition to mere
       | psychological triggers, likely has some biological triggers. A
       | biological trigger related to food craving often ends up being
       | called a "gut-brain connection" no matter what (including if it
       | is blood chemistry).
        
         | hinkley wrote:
         | And it's very fuzzy whether when we say 'gut' we mean the
         | organs we call intestines, or the organs plus their contents.
         | Biologically speaking, the former is practically a rounding
         | error of the latter.
         | 
         | There are some theories out there at least partially supported
         | by experiments that some gut bacteria are extorting behavior
         | from us with their exudates. Give me sugar I make you happy.
        
         | gremlinsinc wrote:
         | i'm literally amazed how much is brain related. I've been obese
         | my whole life, highest weight was 690 in 2012, had surgery got
         | down to < 500 but yoyoing between 400/500 ever since. After
         | covid I got really anxious/depressed and was at my highest
         | weight. I'm told also if I had skin surgery, I'd probably lose
         | 75 pounds of just skin, but I was kinda waiting till I got
         | below 350 as a sort of 'target'.
         | 
         | Since May when I started wellbutrin for depression, that mixed
         | w/ my vyvanse for ADHD has made me feel so much better. I tried
         | SSRI's and they just gave me ED.
         | 
         | I've organically lost 50 pounds since May without even dropping
         | soda, I just don't eat junk food, and a few days I've forgotten
         | to eat at all when my wife was out of town. Literally, I have
         | no cravings. Haven't tried adjusting anything in my diet,
         | haven't thought about it, just haven't wanted anything
         | chocolate or sweet, except maybe when I'm not intensely focused
         | on work (i.e. get bored). I actually feel a little perturbed
         | when my family wants dinner because I'd rather not eat and do
         | something more enjoyable.
         | 
         | I'm planning on going back on keto and adding fitness (only
         | thing I've had success w/), which by itself always stopped
         | cravings but at the cost of keeping track of carbs and what
         | not, and switching to crystal light (I have a hatred for the
         | taste or lack thereof of water , I've tried and tried different
         | types etc, <5 cal lemonade packet though and I can down those,
         | and my dr's have said that's way better than soda). Side note I
         | think my water aversion is related my bitter aversion (Beer,
         | coffee, etc taste like shit - i can stomach beer sometimes
         | depending on brand, but I'd rather have a margarita).
        
           | orangepurple wrote:
           | > Literally, I have no cravings
           | 
           | You overcame leptin resistance
           | 
           | > water aversion
           | 
           | Water consumption is CRITICAL for long term weight loss.
           | Minimum 1 liter per day. Ideally a gallon or more per day.
        
           | 6stringmerc wrote:
           | For my blood pressure my Doctor told me to cut down on
           | Sodium. Like you, water bores me, unless it's basically 32.5
           | F and bottomless on demand. As in not happening. So I drank
           | Gatorade or G2. He told me to look at the sodium level - holy
           | moly I was so wrong!
           | 
           | Been reading labels ever since and apparently coconut water
           | is becoming a 10% base for a lot of new gen drinks. Body
           | Armor is 40 cal. I found a new to me one, Prime Hydration,
           | that's 25 cal for 16 oz and 10 mg sodium and has real
           | flavor!!
        
           | axus wrote:
           | Spindrift and all the unsweetened carbonated drinks are a
           | pretty good "Methadone for soda pop".
        
           | colechristensen wrote:
           | Do you hate Aquafina bottled water?
        
             | gremlinsinc wrote:
             | I think the only bottled I can kinda stomach is maybe Fiji.
             | I haven't tried the really expensive glass bottle kind...
             | Though I'd probably do better with anything not in can or
             | plastic because even soda tastes shittier when it's been
             | incubating in aluminum or plastic.
             | 
             | You simply put coke in a glass bottle you get a totally
             | less chemical taste. Probably a lot less bpa in your blood
             | too.
             | 
             | I'll often get a fountain water 32oz though and add a sugar
             | free lemonade packet and the sourness even if it's not
             | sweet makes me drink more of it .
             | 
             | I'm not sure if you're supposed to drink distilled water
             | but I tried it and it tasted the best of all the gallon
             | waters at the store. I think it was because it was the most
             | tasteless...
        
               | colechristensen wrote:
               | Yeah, specifically asked about aquafina because it's
               | reverse osmosis water and should be entirely tasteless.
               | 
               | It is, uh, not entirely ideal to drink completely
               | decriminalized water because if you're not getting those
               | minerals from other sources they tend to get depleted
               | over time. Much more of an issue for, say, a post-
               | menopausal woman than a younger person.
               | 
               | Distilled or RO water might be your best bet.
               | 
               | Those ZeroWater filters produce a very similar result.
               | 
               | I dislike the taste of most not-completely-clean water,
               | but for me it's just a dislike, I do it plenty. Might be
               | you should just force yourself to do it and you'll get
               | used to it after a while. If you deprive yourself of
               | sugary flavored water for a while it will start to taste
               | strange to be having something so sweet, but it'll take a
               | few weeks.
        
       | ChuckNorris89 wrote:
       | So now I can blame my poor dietary choices and comfort eating on
       | my "gut-brain connection"? Sweet! /s
       | 
       | But in all seriousness, this was already known. We are wired from
       | evolution to de drawn to fatty foods, from the caveman times when
       | food was a scarce luxury, and fats were a dense source of
       | calories that could keep out bodies going for longer especially
       | in harsh climates, therefore eating as much fat as you could find
       | was a must for survival. In the middle age paintings, a lot of
       | women were on the plus side as the body fat was a sign of health,
       | wealth, good nutrition, fertility and capacity to carry out
       | pregnancies and feed babies.
       | 
       | But in our modern sedentary world where calories are abundant (in
       | the west at least) fatty foods are more of a health risk than a
       | benefit for the general population.
       | 
       | But still, I love the taste of fatty foods and loathe the taste
       | of the low-fat variants. Cappucino just tastes like crap with
       | soy/low-fat milk. Cheese and butter tastes amazing. Fatty fish
       | and foul is a delight. Beef cuts with lots of marbling is better.
       | And in general, foods cooked in animal fat are something else. To
       | me at least, other people might have different tastes. But now I
       | know I can blame my caveman ancestors for my cravings.
       | 
       | There's also this new keto diet that sprung up in the weight-
       | loss, body-building circles a while back, based on this theory
       | that we should feed like our caveman ancestors, using only
       | proteins and fats with zero carbs. I'm not an expert so I cannot
       | comment on this diet though.
        
         | yamtaddle wrote:
         | If anyone's got tricks for making healthy food that doesn't
         | rely on "cheating" with a bunch of added fats (dairy, animal
         | fats, oils) in order to make them something people actually
         | _want_ to eat, rather than reluctantly tolerating at best, I 'd
         | really like to know them. As it is, I try to make a healthy
         | dish in my house--recipe or just winging it, either way--it's
         | guaranteed to be roundly panned (even I usually don't like them
         | much), but I make the exact same thing with liberal use of
         | added fats, and everyone loves it.
         | 
         | All the e.g. veggie-heavy dishes we eat that don't elicit a
         | groan either call for lots of fat to begin with (say, cream or
         | coconut milk curry sauces) or are ones I've modified by adding
         | a bunch of e.g. butter. It's even a reliable trick for taking
         | things like soups from "meh" to "wow, that's great!"--generous
         | splash of cream, or butter, or oil.
         | 
         | As far as I can tell the full eating-healthy rule should be,
         | "eat food, mostly plants, not too much-- _and add shitloads of
         | fat to it if you don 't want to dread every single meal_". I'd
         | love to know other effective "cheats" that don't turn every
         | dish into a calorie-bomb. Though I guess omitting the fat makes
         | the "not too much" part super-easy.
        
           | gremlinsinc wrote:
           | Personally, I think people are looking for the wrong thing.
           | Try instead to keep your daily carb count under 60 grams, and
           | eat as much protein as possible from cheese/lean proteins but
           | also some fatty if you like. My faves when I'm doing keto
           | are: Brisket, cheese, sugar free pudding for craving control
           | or chobani greek yogurt, bacon, hamburger, chicken. I tend to
           | keep it simple just rotating through easy things to keep on
           | hand, like I'll pick up a pound of pre-smoked brisket at the
           | supermarket in town and heat that up for dinner.
           | 
           | The issue i think more is calorie in/calorie out as well as
           | switching your metabolism some. Keto-eating does this really
           | well.
           | 
           | Low fat was the fad diet of the 80s/90s everything was low
           | fat this or that, and it was the biggest growth in obesity
           | ever. Sugar / Starches is what really leads to obesity not
           | fatty foods. 'fatty' is a misnomer, I mean it just means
           | animal 'fats', doesn't mean it causes you to become 'fatter'.
        
         | BlargMcLarg wrote:
         | Most 'high fatty foods' in diets of obese people are loaded
         | with empty carbs and contain tons of sugar. Even if article is
         | right on the desire for fats, it completely skips over sweets,
         | cookies, sugared drinks and food with sugar added to it for
         | practically no reason beyond taste.
         | 
         | Even cheese is incredibly difficult to get obese from. Ask the
         | keto people if they could eat 300g of cheese in the first week,
         | most average people struggle with a mere 100g.
        
           | gremlinsinc wrote:
           | I struggle to get 1200 calories when I'm doing keto. I'm over
           | 400 pounds, I'm losing weight now from my depression med I
           | switched to this past Spring (Wellbutrin), apparently
           | depression led to more eating than I realized. I've made no
           | changes at all other than I don't crave chocolate/sweets, and
           | have been intermittently fasting a bit because I feel eating
           | is just a waste of time anymore. I can't even suggest food to
           | my wife for dinner because nothing sounds good, as in
           | literally eating nothing sounds like better than eating
           | dinner. I went 3 days without food just to test the craving
           | thing and literally didn't have hunger pangs, or nothing.
           | Zero desire for food.
           | 
           | It was similar to how I felt when I'd first had weight loss
           | surgery in 2012 when I was 690 (I'm a big guy, so I was still
           | very mobile at 690, just probably 50 pounds maybe from not
           | being so, and in pain/etc - I was 32 then, dropped to 500 in
           | 2 years, and stayed between 415-515 ever since.
           | 
           | Few years ago, I was doing crossfit, and keto and dropped to
           | my lowest of 400 in 3 months from my starting weight of 515.
           | Depression/anxiety from covid sent me back up to 515, and
           | since may I've lost 50 pounds still drinking soda or whatever
           | I want. Just not eating junk food, or sweets and probably
           | eating less meals altogether. I also have switched to bottled
           | soda, as I tend to drink less when I have to take a lid off
           | something rather than sip from a straw.
           | 
           | TLDR: I have much experience with this and when in ketosis
           | fats are actually probably good for you, fat is always better
           | for you than sugar, the low-fat fads have a history of being
           | funded by the sugar industry. Low fat oreos that have the
           | same amount of sugar will not make you weigh less. Period. If
           | they cut out 100% of the fat, but none of the sugar you'd
           | probably not lose a pound eating the same amount, hell you
           | might gain weight if the fat actually made you eat less which
           | it can do, but probably not when ghrellin is increased by the
           | sugar intake.
           | 
           | I could live off sticks of cheese, and 2 pounds of brisket
           | per week probably and switch to flavored water over soda and
           | lose 100 lbs easy and I'd struggle to hit 1200 calories. When
           | I'm full of sugar I can easily hit 2-3k, I can't eat a lot at
           | once but cakes are 'slider foods' and can basically go down
           | easy 24/7. If I go to dinner w/ wife we usually get one main
           | dish and a side to split between her, myself and two
           | toddlers. My "sleeve" only allows so much 'heavy' food at
           | once, so I get full fast. I get full faster if I don't drink
           | w/ my meals, as that pushes it through my stomach faster.
           | 
           | There's definitely some change that happens on keto, but I
           | think the problem is maybe if you mix high fat AND high
           | sugar, well sugar is evil period, but that's probably when
           | you metabolise things differently and break things down
           | differently. If fat/protein is your only food source no
           | sugar, you start breaking down your own fat stores more and
           | generally take in less calories.
           | 
           | I dare anyone to eat sugar for 2 weeks, then switch to keto
           | for 2 weeks and try to ingest the same amount of calories.
           | It's impossible. You're lucky if you could do half, probably.
        
         | gremlinsinc wrote:
         | keto works like a charm, only thing that's ever worked for
         | me... Fatty foods really aren't that bad -- good fats anyways.
         | Marbling on brisket is def. the good kind ;). Probably less so
         | on bacon, because of nitrates, and probably better to get more
         | protein from lean meats but if you need a pound or two of
         | brisket a week to stay on keto that's perfectly acceptable ;).
         | 
         | When your carb deprived you don't crave sugar, bread, etc.
         | THESE are what really put fat on, also things like candy, soda,
         | hostess cakes, etc.. all of which are the kinda fatty things I
         | crave and keep me obese. Though I've organically lost 50 pounds
         | since May, just by trying a new depression med - Wellbutrin,
         | which makes sense since it's used for smoking cessation, and
         | increases dopamine levels which is basically why I probably ate
         | foods like that in the first place (to feel good).
         | 
         | If I add some exercise, and better diet I'd probably lose a lot
         | more. I haven't even cut soda, I just don't desire sweets or
         | food at all--which I didn't think was possible except when I'm
         | in ketosis, but apparently the mind/body link is bigger than I
         | thought. Never realized how much my depression controlled me.
        
         | drewcoo wrote:
         | None of that is relevant. The article about a mechanism to
         | trigger fat cravings regardless of taste.
         | 
         | Your namesake avoids the problem entirely.
         | 
         | https://blackbeltmag.com/chuck-norris-anti-aging/dinner
         | 
         | > [Chuck Norris] stopped eating red meat, processed oils, and
         | fat some time ago.
        
       | givemeethekeys wrote:
       | Pregnant women often crave pickles that are not fatty. Human gut
       | sensors are unlike mouse gut sensors.
        
         | ceejayoz wrote:
         | That's likely due to an increased need for sodium as blood
         | volume increases.
         | 
         | You're correct that mouse studies aren't perfect, but nor are
         | they worthless.
         | 
         | Anecdotally, a family member got a gastric bypass and had the
         | food cravings they'd struggled with for decades go away
         | overnight.
        
           | givemeethekeys wrote:
           | The title, without explicitly saying that the article is
           | about mice implies that the subject matter is about people.
        
             | ceejayoz wrote:
             | The subtitle starts with "Mouse research", in 36px font.
             | They're not exactly hiding it, and it matches up with other
             | evidence observed in humans who've had stomach revisions.
        
               | givemeethekeys wrote:
               | Do you think the article ended up on the front page
               | because of the clear subtitle?
        
               | ceejayoz wrote:
               | I think it ended up on the front page because it's
               | interesting.
        
         | gremlinsinc wrote:
         | That's probably mineral related as someone else said. My wife's
         | best friend actually craved dirt and wanted to suck on rocks,
         | probably for whatever mineral she could smell or get from those
         | sources. Odd how your body knows where things are that you're
         | lacking. I wonder if that works for sunlight too when D
         | deficient.
        
         | BlargMcLarg wrote:
         | They also may have cravings for dairy and red meat. Both food
         | groups known to be high in fat when prepared proper and without
         | intentionally trimming the fat. Peanut butter, too.
        
           | givemeethekeys wrote:
           | They also crave junk food, known for its high transfat and
           | sugar content.
        
             | BlargMcLarg wrote:
             | I mean, good job discrediting your own comment? It's pretty
             | obvious pregnant women aren't the well-studied population
             | of humans allowing you to discredit a study in mice.
        
               | givemeethekeys wrote:
               | What I'm trying to say is that craving fats isn't some
               | kind of a revelation. People crava all kinds of things,
               | including fats.
               | 
               | That the gut and the brain are somehow linked isn't a big
               | reveal either.
               | 
               | I'm just failing to see what the big deal with this
               | research paper is.
        
               | ceejayoz wrote:
               | They found the nerves that link them for this specific
               | purpose, the cells that send the specific signal, and a
               | drug that blocks it. That combination of findings seems
               | useful.
               | 
               | (And demonstrated it not to be a taste-based craving,
               | which is neat too.)
               | 
               | Consider the possibility that it's appearance in the
               | journal Nature means more than a shallow dismissal is
               | called for.
        
           | codyb wrote:
           | That's interesting, I wonder if the brain ends up making a
           | map from foods to nutrition profile in order to cause
           | cravings to food that'll satisfy a need.
           | 
           | For instance, I've heard of people craving grapes before to
           | get the Vitamin C maybe (just an example), but if a human
           | lived in an area without grapes, presumably they'd crave the
           | closest local equivalent that'd get the vitamin they needed?
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2022-09-09 23:01 UTC)