Junk-food junkies - Scoop: health fitness nutrition diet supplements personal care environment - balance of homone leptin and amino acid protein galatin affected by diet - Brief Article

Vegetarian Times, May, 2003

A diet of calorie-rich, high-fat foods may trigger chemical changes that make the body less resistant to the hormone leptin, which influences eating behavior, and to the amino acid protein galanin, which stimulates the desire to eat. As a result of these changes, says Michael Schwartz, an endocrinologist at the University of Washington in Seattle, "the brain loses its ability to respond to these hormones as body fat increases." In layman's terms, fast food may be addictive, according to New Scientist magazine, which reviewed a number of studies in its February 2003 issue.

The only other things that have such a profound effect on people, says John Hoebel, a Princeton University psychologist, are sex and drugs.