hormone tampering, diet, food, ghrelin, hormones, mad science, science

Fast Food Joints Add Hormone to Food That Makes You Want to Eat More

When you ingest a stomach hormone called ghrelin it causes your brain to respond to food the way junkies respond to drugs. You are filled with an intense desire for it, and eating it becomes far more memorable. Researchers at Montreal's McGill University studied people's reactions to food after they had ingested ghrelin, and discovered that it made them crave whatever food they were shown in pictures — even if they had just eaten. Drugs that tamper with ghrelin are just around the corner.

Since ghrelin isn't regulated, a fast food restaurant that wanted to sell more food could easily turn it into an additive in their hamburgers or donuts, essentially "addicting" people to their food. Or making them hungrier so that they buy more.

On the other hand, drugs that tamper with ghrelin could also be made to have the opposite effect. they could be used in diet pills to make you feel less hungry, and make food less memorable or appealing. Reports New Scientist about such drugs:

But they might have unintended behavioural side effects, as well, [researcher Alain] Dagher says. Meddling with ghrelin levels could alter the brain's natural sense of rewards, potentially causing mood changes and even depression.

A diet drug called rimonabant that acts on a similar but separate brain system has been linked to depression and suicide, and although it is on sale in other countries, the US Food and Drug Administration has been slow to approve the pill.

But knocking out ghrelin could help scientists pick apart the hormone's effects on the brain, says Matthias Tschop, an obesity expert at the University of Cincinnati.

"Does the pizza not smell that good anymore? Does the pizza not look as good anymore?" he adds.

Research in mice and rats suggests that the hormone changes how they see and smell food, and the same might be true in humans.

Ghrelin drugs seem pretty much inevitable, though one wonders what the warnings in tiny print will say on the labels. Perhaps: "Warning: This may change your perception of rewards."

Stomach Hormone turns Hungry People into Junkies [New Scientist]

10:52 AM on Wed May 7 2008
By Annalee Newitz
2,627 views
36 comments

Comments

Log1c at 10:59 AM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

So its food that wants to make you eat more food? ...Is that the same as chinese where you are still hungry afterwards?
randallnathaniel at 11:00 AM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

There was a Weekly World News (R.I.P.) a few years back about a restaurateur in [insert exotic Southeast Asian locale] that was slipping opium into his hamburgers.

The police became suspicious when the line went for blocks on end.
ManchuCandidate at 11:02 AM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 519

How else are we going to eat rat burgers and like it?
Jeff-Minor at 11:03 AM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

I suggest spraying China with stuff. I've heard that cannabilism is going to be very trendy in the near future.
russdanger at 11:04 AM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

Ronald MacDonald is a pusher!

CLOWNS ARE EVIL!
Garrison Dean, King... at 11:08 AM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 140

I made a hormone one time when she ingested my ghrelin behind a McDonalds.
diverguy at 11:09 AM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

@Garrison Dean, King Awesome:

And just like McDonalds food, she was faking it too.
Miranda Kali at 11:12 AM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 150

This explains so much. ...like why the picture heading this article makes me want to eat my CRT. (amazingly enough, even after I just ate a very fine lunch)
Those bastards. Damn them. Damn them to Jenny Craig hell.
knots at 11:23 AM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

doesn't this mean that a similar hormone could be added to healthy food to help us improve our diet as well?

...also, does that mean that I could somehow make women find me attractive with some hormone -voodoo. SWeet! back of Men's health magazine here I come!!!
zenpoet at 11:24 AM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 159

@diverguy: but at least she was all beef.

I slay me.
CMG at 11:24 AM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

this is totally going to screw with (more) the depressive eaters. but i would tear that burger up.
Klebert L. Hall at 11:33 AM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

Heh. Max Headroom , prophet.
-Kle.
joemono at 11:41 AM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

"a fast food restaurant that wanted to sell more food could easily turn it into an additive in their hamburgers or donuts"

So what you're saying is that this is not currently happening, which makes the headline a flat-out lie?

Also, I read it as "Montreal's McGrill University."

Also also, it seems like this belongs more on the Consumerist rather than a science fiction blog.
extracrispy at 11:41 AM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

I've been telling people for years that McDonald's french fries are like crack to me. Now I have something to back it up.

Mmmm, sweet sweet ghrelin.
workingonyourinvoice at 11:43 AM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

I've always suspected something like this. You shouldn't get itchy blood from not having a quarter pounder for two days.
Ma1agate at 11:44 AM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

No "So I Married an Axe Murderer" references yet?

I'm disappointed in you people.

"HE PUTS AN ADDICTIVE CHEMICAL IN HIS CHICKEN THAT MAKES YOU CRAVE IT NIGHTLY, SMARTASS!!!"
thowland at 11:49 AM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

Umm, doesn't the headline seem pretty far away from anything in the article? If you're going to allege food tampering, wouldn't it be best to cite an article (or lift a quote) that, you know, actually alleges food tampering?
Seth L at 11:51 AM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

Pfft. Nicotine has worked for them for years, why change...

Oops, said too much.

@thowland:

Welcome to io9
Miranda Kali at 12:18 PM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 150

@Seth L:
I can see the warnings now.
THE SURGEON GENERAL HAS DETERMINED THAT EATING THIS DELICIOUS "BACONATOR" WILL INCREASE YOUR RISK OF NEEDING TRIPLE BYPASS SURGERY.
Bruce_A at 12:53 PM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

So wait...ARE fast food restaurants adding this "ghrelin" to their products or not? If they're not, you need to make that crystal clear. Say, by changing the headline.
MarlboroTestMonkey7 at 01:12 PM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

Headline misleading, but delicious
DocGratis at 01:34 PM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

@Bruce_A: I agree... I have heard this, but I have not heard that anyone/anyplace was adding "ghrelin" to anything...

I don't think we should accusing companies without facts.. (but I suspect if fast food companies knew about this they would be using it)
russdanger at 01:45 PM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

@Jeff-Minor:

You are, of course assuming that the people they eat do not include you.
russdanger at 01:47 PM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

Besides, who the fuck are we kidding?

FOOD is addictive!
Asari at 02:09 PM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

I am by no means a health food nut, but i quit eating fast food 7 years ago.

I've only eaten it twice since then (being stuck in the middle of nowhere and starving) and both times it messed up my digestion for days.
Tex at 02:23 PM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

Wow. Anyone else ever read Frederick Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth's book "The Space Merchants"?

I wonder when they're going to start selling seats on the ship to the Venus colony?
Aethyr at 02:24 PM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 357

@Asari: That was probably because you hadn't eaten it for 7 years. Same thing happens with vegetarians and even a small amount of meat.

The burger. It's calling to me.
Annalee Newitz at 02:47 PM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 344

I am totally having a burger for dinner. With ghrelin on top!
Rangersyl at 05:00 PM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*

I take issue with the statement that ghrelin isn't regulated. The moment somebody puts it in food, it becomes (under Federal Law) an "Unapproved Food Additive" and is very much regulated. I.e. the use you are suggesting would indeed be illegal.
Jonn at 06:29 PM on 05/07/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 0

@Log1c: With Chinese food, it's due to a lack of fiber, which the body needs to absorb the sugars. Without that fiber it just goes right on through.

That's why I always get a pack o' Doritos with my Chinese, or eat some whole-wheat bread.
aspiringexpatriate at 12:58 AM on 05/08/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 167

@joemono: Um, Futurist and Sci-Fi blog. The retro-futurism and architecture things they used to do were awesome.

@Annalee Newitz: Yeah, some people I met in Moscow just assumed they are doing this already at McD's. After 500+ years as an oppressive, dictatorial state, you just kinda assume that people with power are abusing it. And damn, isn't it just a shock that they are?
Annalee Newitz at 02:08 AM on 05/08/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 344

@joemono: A lie . . . or a prediction? Dum dum dum!!!
Annalee Newitz at 02:09 AM on 05/08/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 344

@aspiringexpatriate: FYI we still do architecture and retro-futurism.
Jeff-Minor at 05:09 AM on 05/08/08
Reply by Email
*

@russdanger: I was kinda thinking they might just eat each other. I shouldn't talk like that; it's nasty. Sorry China.
beelzebuddha at 05:58 AM on 05/08/08
Reply by Email
*

I wouldn't be surprised if a company like McDonalds has already discovered this stuff or something similar. You just know they spend millions on research to discover this sort of thing...
Allivymar at 07:36 PM on 05/09/08
Reply by Email
*

I wonder if those folks with Prader-Willie (genetic syndrome that causes nervous system problems and an insatiable appetite) actually suffer from a glut of ghrelin? Especially since their bodies are out of whack to being with.