MegaStar says: Pete Doherty the size of Eamon Holmes - that s what we want to see.
Scientists in New York have discovered that the obese and the skinniest of heroin addicts have something in common, reports the Guardian. Their addictions are all controlled by the same part of the brain.
"This opens new territory in understanding how the body and brain connect to each other, and how this connection is tied to obesity," the brilliantly named Gene-Jack Wang of the Center for Translational Neuroimaging at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York, told the paper.
"We were able to simulate the process that takes place when the stomach is full, and for the first time we could see the pathway from the stomach to the brain that turns 'off' the brain's desire to continue eating."
How a person's brain encourages overeating has, until now, been poorly understood because of the complex way that the body regulates food intake.
The body releases hormones such as ghrelin when the body wants nutrients and this encourages us to eat. Then a combination of different hormones and electrical signals from the stomach to the brain tell us to stop eating. This is controlled by the vagus nerve, which controls the movement of food through the digestive system.
During the research, Wang's team studied seven obese volunteers implanted with pacemaker-like devices to stimulate the vagus nerve, causing the stomach to expand and send a message to the brain to stop eating.
This gives us new insight into the mechanisms by which obese people use food to soothe their emotions," said Dr Wang. "This new pathway should be explored to determine if there are any implications for treating or preventing obesity.
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