• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Sensing Calories

Sensing Calories

April 22, 2008
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/080422_sciup_calo.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):
The brain’s appetite for calories. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Artificial sweeteners may fool your taste buds, but not your brain. This according to a recent study by Duke University Medical Center and the University of Porto in Portugal. It involved genetically engineered mice that couldn’t taste sweetness. Duke neurobiologist Ivan de Araujo says that these mice showed no interest in artificially sweetened water. But sugar water was a different story.

IVAN DE ARAUJO (Duke University):
Over the course of a couple days, they developed this robust preference for the drink that contained sucrose, even if there was no taste or flavor associated with it.

HIRSHON:
The sugar water also lit up their brains’ reward centers, just as a sweet flavor would if they could taste it. He says that if our brains also respond to pure calorie content, it may explain why people who use diet products sometimes overeat to compensate. I’m Bob Hirshon for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily ShowTag: Animal Behavior, Biology, Brain Science, Chemistry, Genetics & Evolution, Medicine & Health, Nutrition & Food Science, Social & Behavioral Sciences
Previous Post:Fruit Fly Phlebotomy
Next Post:Alligator Blood

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Mayan Honeybee hives
House sparrow wearing top hat rides aboard a red fireworks rocket

Copyright © 2023 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos