Diet Pills- they don't work and here is why: (excuse my nerd

bprague

So one of the joys of taking neuroscience courses is that my particular professors love talking about the hedonistic senses- a lot. Sex and food, sex and food. Oh, and sex.

Anyway, for those of you who have, or are currently using some weight-loss pill I would like to share some of what I learned. Maybe it will help me study the general picture

So the eating pathway is ridiculously complex- all of the senses are tied into it. We receive incentives to eat. Some of these are external, like smell and taste while others are internal, like in the stomach ghrelin is released when you are hungry. And then there are the fat stores, which produce leptin to tell your brain that you have enough fat storage that you probably don't need to eat (which is also why liposuction is a temporary fix, because you lose the fat that tells your brain you AREN'T hungry).

All of these signals (plus about thirty more) tell your brain that you do, or don't need to eat. It is a system of EXTREME redundancy. After all, eating is a vital function and if you don't have incentive to eat- then you die. It wouldn't be a good way to pass on your genetics.

All of these wires crossing in your brain (if you will), involve dozens of different types of neurotransmitters and receptors.

If you aren't getting what I'm trying to imply- You can't turn off the desire to eat, nor the need. It is too complex. There are too many factors involved! You might find a drug that will inhibit one neurotransmitter- but that is just one and doesn't do much when the main goal of neuro function is to keep you eating. Furthermore many of the receptors and transmitters that products aim to inhibit are also VERY widespread in the brain. You might inhibit the recognition of ghrelin, let's say- but that receptor is also one of the most common in the body. You turn off many other functions by doing that and therein lie the "side effects". such as depression (yes, that is one).

Think again when you pick up a box of diet pills.