Train Your Brain to Eat Right
Forget about grim determination, deprivation, and self-denial—it turns out you can come to enjoy a much healthier diet by simply training your brain to desire healthier foods.
Research conducted by Thilo Deckersbach, PhD, Director of Research in MGH’s Division of Neurotherapeutics, in cooperation with Susan Roberts, PhD, at Tufts University and other col-leagues, suggests that a program that helps individuals reduce high-calorie fatty and sugar-laden foods and replace them with fruits, vegetables, fish, and other nutritious low-calorie foods can actually change the brain’s food preferences over time. The study, published in the Sept. 1, 2014 issue of Nutrition & Diabetes, is the first demonstration that it’s possible to change the brain’s reward system so that healthier foods become more appealing.
“This study suggests that eating healthier foods increases their reward value,” says Dr. Deckersbach. “To support brain health and functioning in particular, you might concentrate on the rewards associated with a balanced diet that includes foods that have been linked to better brain health—such as nuts, fish, dark-colored fruits and berries, and antioxidant-rich vegetables—and incorporate these foods into your diet. Reshaping your preferences in this way may help you replace unhealthy foods with alternatives that are more beneficial to brain health and functioning.”
Modification
The researchers had set out to determine whether a behavioral modification program in conjunction with a weight loss regimen could succeed in reversing individuals’ cravings for un-healthy foods or whether, once established, these cravings were firmly fixed in the brain’s reward system. The researchers divided a small group of obese volunteers into two groups. One group was enrolled in a weight-loss program intended to change how people react to different foods. This intervention group followed menu plans for high-fiber, low-glycemic meals. They also attended regular sessions in which they listened to talks by nutrition specialists and participated in group meetings designed, among other objectives, to support efforts to reduce calorie intake, more closely associate hunger satisfaction with healthy foods, and reduce the tendency to revert to unhealthy eating patterns over time. The second group did not participate in the program.
Dr. Deckersbach’s team took functional magnetic imaging brain scans (fMRIs) of a subset of participants at the outset of the study and again after six months to measure levels of activation in reward centers linked to learning and addiction in response to images of healthy and unhealthy foods. The scans revealed that participants who had taken part in the weight-loss program—most of whom successfully lost weight—had experienced changes in these brain areas that indicated reduced activation when presented with images of un-healthy foods and increased activation when shown images of healthy foods.
“Participants in our study who underwent behavioral training and adhered to a nutritious low-calorie regimen began to anticipate greater reward from eating nutritious foods,” explains Dr. Deckersbach. “They essentially developed a stronger craving for the healthier foods.
“The exciting thing is that these changes may make it easier for people who want to develop healthier eating habits to stick with improved diets, since it addresses the underlying cravings that can often cause a return to eating unhealthily.”
The study demonstrates that food conditioning may not be permanent, that the brain can be re-trained to shift preferences towards healthier foods, and that fMRI is an important technique for exploring the brain’s role in food cues, Dr. Deckersbach noted.
“With more research, it might be possible to one day monitor the brain’s reward responses in individual patients to help people who want to change their eating patterns but find it hard to resist temptation,” he pointed out.
Brain-healthy diet
Research such as the Tufts and MGH study suggest that an ideal brain-healthy diet would be well balanced, low in calories, and provide a variety of key nutrients to help the brain to function optimally, and avoid and repair damage. These nutrients include:
• Fatty acids. About two-thirds of brain tissue is composed of fats, which enhance communication among brain cells and stabilize brain-cell membranes, among other functions. Important fats for brain health are oleic acid, found in olive and peanut oils, almonds and avocados; omega-3 fatty acids found in cold-water fish, nuts, and dark leafy greens; and omega-6 fatty acids, found in vegetable oils.
• Amino acids. Derived from proteins in the diet, amino acids are the building blocks of neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers that allow brain cells to communicate with one another. Good sources of amino acids are lean meat, fish, eggs, poultry, low-fat dairy products, grains, legumes, and nuts and seeds.
• Micronutrients. In addition to helping regulate chemical reactions and processes within the brain, micronutrients such as vitamins, minerals and plant compounds called phytochemicals are vital to your brain’s defense system. Many micronutrients have antioxidant effects that help control highly reactive forms of oxygen called free radicals that can damage brain cells. See the table at left for sources of these nutrients.
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