Bad food is declared such
A group of nutritionists from the University of California conducted a study that found that so-called junk food makes people lazy. According to scientists, it affects the human brain, reducing its motivation for any kind of vigorous activity.
In the course of the experiment, experts divided laboratory mice into two groups and fed some of them with complex carbohydrates characteristic of healthy food, and others with simple carbohydrates found in abundance in “harmful” food. Moreover, the total content of proteins, fats and carbohydrates in the diet of rodents from both groups was equal.
Within six months, as a result of such feeding, those mice that ate a meal with fast carbohydrates gained significantly more weight than those mice that were fed differently. Having noted this, the experts proceeded to the next stage of the experiment: they installed a mechanism in the cells of the rodents that, with a certain number of presses on the lever, gave out sweet water to the mice. At the same time, the number of clicks required to get the "dessert" grew over time.
As the study showed, rodents from the "junk food group" took longer breaks between "exercises" for the extraction of sweet water, and sometimes even refused it altogether, preferring an additional portion of rest.
According to experts, the reason for the difference is not the fact that mice that have become obese tired faster than their more slender colleagues in the experiment. Scientists suggest that the reason is deeper - unhealthy eating could directly affect the structure of their brains, making mice less active and simply not motivated enough to achieve their goal.
Experts suggest that the results they obtained can be applied to people whose love of fast food probably literally "kills the will" to play sports or any other form of activity.
This is not the first study to conclude that the structure of the human brain can be largely dependent on its nutrition. For example, late last year, Russell Poldrak of Stanford University discovered that some of the neuronal connections in his own brain are affected by whether he ate breakfast and drank his morning cup of coffee.
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Dmitry Istrov