In defense of pleasure: We need to rethink food reward and obesity

TL;DR

The paper suggests that overeating and obesity are not caused by food pleasure, but by reduced sensitivity to internal signals from unhealthy diets.

Contribution

The paper challenges the common belief that food pleasure drives obesity, proposing instead that unhealthy diets impair interoceptive signals.

Findings

Pleasure from eating is not the main driver of the obesity epidemic.

Unhealthy diets reduce sensitivity to signals that regulate food reward.

Abstract

Is overeating driven by hedonism? We argue that the pleasure of eating food is not a driver of the obesity epidemic, but rather the regular consumption of an unhealthy diet blunts sensitivity to interoceptive signals that drive food reward.

Is overeating driven by hedonism? This Perspective argues that the pleasure of eating food is not a driver of the obesity epidemic, but rather the regular consumption of an unhealthy diet blunts sensitivity to interoceptive signals that drive food reward.