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Key points
- Eating a diet high in sugar, salt, or carbohydrates triggers the release of dopamine in our brains.
- The more dopamine that is released, the greater the pleasure.
- Repeatedly eating high amounts of carbohydrates causes a decrease in dopamine and a drop in D2 receptors.
- We can restore our brain dopamine levels and D2 receptors by changing what we eat and when we eat.
Coauthor: Jenna Moore, RD
It’s no surprise that many of the highly processed foods we consume pack just as much of a dopamine punch as alcohol, drugs, sex, and rock n’ roll. As restaurants and food-product businesses compete for our loyalty, the concentrations of flavor enhancers in what we now know as “hyperpalatable” foods have skyrocketed. But what exactly are flavor enhancers and how do they cause food cravings? Here we talk about these very products and describe how to regain control over our compulsive eating habits. We can not only take back our independence from food cravings, but we can also help those we work with do the same!
While you may already know that dopamine, aka the “pleasure chemical,” functions as an important neurotransmitter, or messenger between neurons, you may not know that the release of dopamine in the brain often starts at the tongue.
Our tongue is an oasis of sensory receptors that absorb distinct flavor profiles, textures, and more. Our tongue’s taste buds act as a gateway that receives information from our food and translates it into both pleasurable and non-pleasurable signals. These signals suggest to our body which foods can either enhance or detract from our living experience.
Each of us has a pathway that connects the taste buds on our tongue to dopamine producing cells in our brain. This pathway is known as the gustatory system, and it is where pleasure from eating food starts. When we immerse our tongue in an experience with hyper-concentrated sugar, salt, or carbohydrates (i.e. hyperpalatable foods), dopamine levels surge in the part of our brain known as the nucleus accumbens. Furthermore, the greater the release of dopamine, the greater the sensation of pleasure. Ultimately, this is how we experience pleasure from food.
The Problem
Experiencing pleasure from food that contains natural amounts of sugar, salt and carbohydrates isn’t a bad thing, but a problem arises when we ingest high concentrations of these flavor enhancers in our food. For example, whereas one entire whole fruit, such as a medium orange, contains 12 grams of sugar, a one-pint glass of orange juice (a processed food product) contains a whopping 40 grams of sugar! That is more than a can of your favorite soda. And when we recurrently trigger a surge in dopamine by repeatedly ingesting high amounts of sugar, our dopamine levels start dropping. Repeated doses of high amounts of sugar, salt, or carbohydrates also trigger a reduction in a specific type of dopamine receptor known as the dopamine 2 (D2) receptor. These receptors are decreased not only in individuals with food compulsions, but also in people who are addicted to alcohol and drugs such as tobacco, cocaine, methamphetamine, and opiates. A lower number of D2 receptors means there are fewer opportunities for dopamine to bind to these receptors. These reductions in dopamine and D2 receptors result in a condition known as Reward Deficiency Syndrome (RDS) which produces cravings.
We need modest amounts of dopamine in our everyday lives, and we can get a healthy amount of dopamine simply by exposing ourselves to sunshine, talking with friends, or moving our bodies. But when we fry our pleasure receptors by dumping excessive amounts of dopamine after consuming hyperpalatable foods, we crave more of these dopamine-releasing foods.
The Solution
Don’t be disheartened. We can recover from our compulsions by growing new dopamine receptors. How is this possible? As already described, a high carbohydrate diet decreases D2 receptors. But we can increase the number of D2 receptors in our brain by eating a diet that is high in healthy fats. Also, restricting our intake of food for extended periods of time similarly increases dopamine receptors.
Thus, dietary changes such as eating a high-fat diet and utilizing intermittent fasting can help increase the number of dopamine receptors in our brain, thus reducing food cravings and boosting our ability to experience happiness.
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