A research group led by Associate Professor Michael Lazarus of the International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine, University of Tsukuba, has revealed some of the causes of overdose of obesity-leading foods such as sucrose and lipids when reducing REM sleep. I made it.
People who are sleep deprived tend to eat more of the foods they prefer to gain weight and become more prone to gain weight than those who get enough sleep.In particular, it has been reported that weight gain occurs when REM sleep is insufficient.
However, it was unclear what kind of neural mechanism caused people to want high-calorie foods when they lacked sleep.In addition, although the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in food preference, has been thought to play an important role, its direct relationship with sleep has not been known.
The research group prepared mice suffering from REM sleep deprivation and focused on their feeding behavior.Then, the mice lacking REM sleep consumed more sucrose and lipids.On the other hand, in mice in which the neural activity of the prefrontal cortex was artificially suppressed, the intake of sucrose did not increase even if the amount of REM sleep was insufficient, but the intake of lipid was not affected, and compared with the control group. It was found to increase as well.
These results suggest that the desire to eat so-called "fat-prone" foods that are high in sucrose and gain weight during sleep deprivation may be directly controlled by the prefrontal cortex. Was suggested.This is the first result of a direct link between REM sleep and prefrontal cortex and food preference.
REM sleep is known to decrease with age.In addition, diseases closely related to obesity such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease continue to increase.Based on the results of this research, it is expected to develop a new neuropharmacological strategy to promote healthy eating behavior in an aging society.
