Because obesity has become a huge epidemic in our world today, scientific researchers are always looking for reasons to explain such a huge phenomenon and help those many people in need. After gaining such a huge amount of weight, many people find it impossible to loose the pounds once they put them on. It is well known that part of the struggle to lose weight is will power; however, some research has shown late on-set diabetes, one of the symptoms of obesity could be perpetuating it. Late on-set diabetes is the resistance in the hormone cells to insulin even though it is available. Although this diabetes is not deadly, insulin regulates the absorption and release of sugar, and without it blood sugar can get out of control. Dr. Bruning from Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research in Cologne decided to research if the insulin controlled brain cells also resisted insulin and might effect an obese person's ability to consume so much food. By looking at the midbrain cells, which are responsible for producing the feeling of pleasure, in mice, Dr. Bruning found vital information. The male mice that had been genetically altered to not have insuline-receptor genes, ate 3.2 grams of rodent chow and the average amount of food a male mouse eats a day is 2.8 grams. In female mice the average amount per day to eat should have been 2.7 grams; however, without the insuline receptors the female mice ate 3.1 grams a day. Obviously there was a difference without the insuline receptors; however, Dr. Bruning cannot conclude that humans are effected the same way because knocking out a gene is different than acquiring late on-set diabetes and mice are not men! This research is still important though, because it raises the question as to why the absence of something can produce a reaction of pleasure for food.
http://www.economist.com/node/18833493
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