{"id":363749,"date":"2026-03-02T10:25:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T10:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/363749\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T10:25:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T10:25:16","slug":"scientists-pinpoint-why-resisting-a-donut-can-feel-impossible-even-when-youre-full","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/363749\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists pinpoint why resisting a donut can feel impossible \u2014 even when you’re full"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donut worry about giving in to that extra sweet treat.<\/p>\n

Overeating is an issue that plagues many, as researchers predict nearly half of US adults will be obese by 2035<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But science may have an explanation for why we still reach for extra snacks<\/a> even when we\u2019re full \u2014 and it has nothing to do with willpower.<\/p>\n

\"ManMany of continue reaching for more food, even when we\u2019re stuffed, and a new study may have an explanation why. terovesalainen \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

A new experimental study<\/a> aimed to find an explanation for why so many struggle to get to a healthy weight and why, despite eating a full meal, we still reach for extra food.<\/p>\n

Published in the journal Appetite, researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA) discovered that the brain continues to respond to tempting food cues even after we\u2019ve eaten enough.<\/p>\n

More than 70 volunteers were monitored using Electroencephalogram brain scans while playing a reward\u2011based learning game with food such as sweets, chocolate, chips and popcorn.<\/p>\n

Halfway through the task, participants were given a meal of one of the foods until they were full, no longer desiring or valuing the food.<\/p>\n

But their brains were telling a different story.<\/p>\n

\"FourResearchers found that despite feeling full and satisifed, our brains continued to respond to tempting food cues. S\u00c5awomir Fajer \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

The electrical activity in areas associated with reward continued responding just as strongly to images of the now\u2011unwanted food \u2014 even after participants were completely full.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo amount of fullness could switch off the brain\u2019s response to delicious-looking food,\u201d lead researcher Dr Thomas Sambrook, from UEA\u2019s School of Psychology, said in a press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis suggests that food cues may trigger overeating in the absence of hunger,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s a recipe for overeating<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The researchers believe that over the years, as we\u2019ve paired certain foods with pleasure, we\u2019ve trained our brains to respond to food cues like habits.<\/p>\n

Another culprit of overeating could be simply getting distracted during meals, feeling dissatisfied and turning to \u201chedonic compensation\u201d \u2014 making up for the loss of pleasure by seeking extra gratification elsewhere.<\/p>\n

This means that our brain responses work like automatic, learned reactions rather than conscious decisions.<\/p>\n

The study also found that even those with excellent self-control can\u2019t resist the brain\u2019s automatic responses to food valuation.<\/p>\n

This could mean the issue with overeating isn\u2019t a matter of discipline \u2014 it\u2019s the brain\u2019s built-in wiring.<\/p>\n

\u201cRising obesity isn\u2019t simply about willpower,\u201d said Sambrook. \u201cIt\u2019s a sign that our food-rich environments and learned responses to mouth-watering cues are overpowering the body\u2019s natural appetite controls.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donut worry about giving in to that extra sweet treat. Overeating is an issue that plagues many, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[277],"tags":[31234,104946,5250,18,135,19,17,508,7176,53274,14176],"class_list":["post-363749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-brains","tag-dessert","tag-eating","tag-eire","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-nutrition","tag-obesity","tag-snacks","tag-study-says"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116159101239355337","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}