Are carbohydrates the most addictive macronutrient?
It is often claimed that carbohydrate (or sugar specifically) is very addicting. However, people don’t tend to put spoons of sugar in their mouth. So, are carbohydrates and/or sugar really that addicting?
This study investigated brain responses to calorie-matched food products high in 1) carbohydrate, 2) fat, or 3) carbohydrate and fat. Participants were shown pictures of these food products while lying in an MRI scanner to measure brain activation (fMRI). In addition, their willingness to pay was determined for all products.
There was no difference in willingness to pay for the carbohydrate or fat products. However, willingness to pay was higher for products that were high in both carbohydrates and fat.
In agreement, brain regions associated with reward were more activated while participants saw the products rich in both carbohydrates and fat.
A strength of this study is that they used fMRI, which is an accurate and objective way to visualize brain region activation. A limitation is that actual behavior was not measured (how much and often these foods are bought and consumed)
Quick question on types of protein that are eaten throughout the day. (I know it’s a broad questions). I am in sales and am not able to eat as clean as I would like. This suggested (20g-40g) suggested intake of protein per meal is fine. What is tough on me is the type of protein that I consume and the other somewhat things that go with that such as processed foods. How big effect does that have on muscle growth rate? Thanks
Hey Danny,
The amount of protein is by far the most important. Especially when you eat more than 20 g in a meal, things like type of protein, whether it’s processed etc, do not really matter for muscle growth. Those type of things make suboptimal amounts of protein worse.