Tough day at the office? Nothing one little ice cream can't fix, right? Think again. A new study suggests that foods high in saturated fat can trick our bodies into eating more - and that the effect may last for up to three days.
The UT Southwestern Medical Center study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, found that fat from certain foods heads straight to the brain.
The fat molecules, in turn, prompt the brain to send signals to the body's cells to ignore appetite-suppressing signals from insulin and leptin, hormones involved in food intake and body-weight regulation.
We already know that saturated fat raises cholesterol levels and increases our risk of heart disease, but these findings indicate that fat intake also disrupts weight-regulating hormone activity. Palmitic acid, a saturated fat found in beef, butter, cheese and milk, appears to be the worst offender.
Hmm, suddenly that ice cream isn't looking so good.
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