Binge Eating May be linked to Elevated Dopamine Levels

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory has shown that the sight or smell of a patient’s favorite foods elevates dopamine levels. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter linked to reward. In another study, normal healthy people were deprived food for 16 hours. The researchers observed that the levels of dopamine were found to be in parallel with hunger. In their current study, they are observing that binge eating obese subjects have stronger responses for foods versus non-binge eaters. In order to observe the binge eaters brains, a radiotracer was injected to bind to dopamine receptors while sending of transmissions recorded on a positron emission tomography scanner. The patients were given either the drug methylphenidate (dopamine reuptake inhibitor) or a placebo. All patients then had their favorite food in front of them. The researchers found out that the methylphenidate increased dopamine levels in the binge eaters only. To be more specific, the dopamine levels in the caudate and putamen increased only in the binge eaters with the methylphenidate. However, in the other parts of the brain, dopamine levels did not rise significantly. Binge eaters had an elevated response to the dopamine. Binge eating has its parallels with drug addition because drug addicts have dopamine spikes when its gets drug related cures.

This article is of interest because America has an eating problem. As a young adult, I wonder why some people eat more than others. For myself, I typically only when I am hungry and don’t have a strong desire to snack a lot. For others, I know people enjoy eating. This may be the explanation of why their desire to eat is more than my own. A dopamine blocker could be the answer to binge eating.