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Hard Wired

Hardwired

In 2001 the surgeon general warned that obesity was the second largest cause of preventable death in the United States, quickly moving to overtake the leading cause, smoking (WWW1). Approximately one third of Americans are considered clinically obese (Clark & Grunstein). None of this is new information, movies like "Super Size Me" have shed light on the national epidemic and we are bombarded with messages about how to eat right by the media. Yet fast food still flourishes and obesity is on the rise. People for the most part understand that fast food is not healthy, yet they are still driven to consume it even when it is obviously killing them. What are the underpinning biological mechanisms that make fast food so attractive? This paper will analyze the neurological systems built to reward the body for survival adaptive behavior, specifically the endogenous opioid system and its neural physiology. Secondly, I aim to use a neuro-chemical lens to discover that good taste is only the beginning
of a complicated ballet of neurotransmitters and neurophysiology. First we will take a look at the underlying evolutionary and genetic factors that influence our everyday actions to see how they affect our eating behavior. Secondly this paper will examine the psychoactive components in fast food like casomorphins, Phenylethylalamine, and caffine. Third, we will explore the parallels between classic addiction as an analogy to understanding why we love the food that we do. Finally we will delve into the neural substrates that are activated by fast food. There must be a reason why fast food has found such a hold on American society and modern society at large. I argue that the reason is neurological, that humans (as most animals) are neurologically built to have an affinity for highly palatable high caloric foods like fast food. As Dr. Neal Barnard of the Physicians for Responsible Medicine says "It is not that you lack will power, These Foods stimulate the release...