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Stress:neurons responsible for our sweet cravings

While we recently learned of the existence of a "jealousy zone" in the brain (thereby relieving Bibi a little of the blame for her over-possessiveness), we found something to excuse another of our little daily habits:greed ! Indeed, according to a study conducted by researchers at the National Institute of Physiological Sciences (in Japan) and published in the journal Cell Reports , some neurons would be particularly responsible for our sweet cravings... Clearly, if we overindulged in chocolate, it's also the fault of our brain (yes, yes, it's science that says so) !

Neurons activated by stress

To achieve these results, the researchers studied the behavior of mice, and found that when the neurons in question are stimulated by stress, they eat up to three times more sugary foods, to the detriment of foods fat. For humans, it would be just the same! In a stressful situation, we are sometimes taken by an almost uncontrollable craving, and we then rush on cakes, chocolate or any other sweet food. We must therefore learn to rid ourselves of guilt following these small excesses, since after all, it is a little (a lot!) the fault of our brain. Well, and if you were wondering, scientists have already indicated that we cannot deactivate this neuron in order to eat less sugar, at the risk of triggering side effects. On the other hand, we can think that this discovery will one day help people who eat too much fat, by activating these “sweet neurons”. In any case, we have a (good) excuse if we crack!