At Christmas dinner this year, you may find yourself stuffed to capacity, unable to eat another bite...until you see a scrumptious dessert. Now, scientists know why. It's because your stomach gets bigger when you eat sugar:
Link -via Glenn Reynolds | Photo: Flickr user whitneyinchicago
The sugar in sweet foods stimulates a reflex that expands your stomach, writes senior researcher Arnold Berstad and assistant doctor Jørgen Valeur from Lovisenberg Diakonale Hospital in the latest issue of The Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association.
“If you eat dessert after you’re actually feeling stuffed you’re tricking your normal sensation of being full,” they argue. [...]
Glucose – or sugar if you will – stimulates this relaxation reflex.
“In this way it can decrease the pressure on the stomach and reduce the sensation of being full. A sweet dessert allows the stomach to make room for more food,” the researchers write in the medical journal.
Link -via Glenn Reynolds | Photo: Flickr user whitneyinchicago
If there's no other option and I'm still hungry I'll have a sweet dessert, but I'm usually disappointed.