Lab Mouse - © jax.org

Alcohol DOES Give You The Munchies!

Have you ever been poo-pooed for binge eating after you’ve tied one on? Well. science has now proven that – like the Marijuana Munchies – Booze Munchies are a real manifestation of altered Brain chemistry brought on by consumption of your fave ‘stimulant’. So, no more munchie-shaming!

World Record Nachos - © kuathletics.com___________________

Left: World’s biggest platter of Nachos, crafted at University of Kansas, Lawrence, in April, 2012. Weighs in at almost 5,000 lb. / 2,300 kg. You might think you could finish it – if you drank enough!
___________________

An article in the latest issue of the journal Nature Communi-cations maintains that the urge to binge eat after consuming Alcohol is a real and demonstrable mani- festation of brain chemistry changes caused by con- sumption of Alcohol.

Translation: It’s not your fault. You do not have a weak character and you do not have an ‘eating disorder’. Alcohol, it seems activates certain brain cells that make lab Mice crave food, even if they’re not really hungry. And, as you know, they use White Mice in lab tests because they’re so similar to us in many ways.

The cells responsible for binge eating are known as AgRPs, or Agouti-Related Protein neurons. Researchers at The Francis Crick Institute Mill Hill Laboratory in London, UK, also discovered that deactivating the AgRPs encourages Mice not to eat, even when they should be hungry. This mechanism is separate from the well-known ‘hunger pangs’; we all get when we’re needing food. And the AgRP system is entirely subconscious. It acts at a very basic level, sending signals that are strong and unequivocal directly to your hunger centres.

How drunk do you have to be?

Researchers ‘administered’ alcohol to the mice in doses that were rpo0ughly equal to human consumption of 608 English Pints or two bottles of wine. Whoa! After that much, I’d be in no shape to eat at all – I’d be unconscious! So, it takes a real binge drunk to trigger the binge eating.

Nevertheless, researchers Craig Bromeley and Sarah Caines say there may be a link between obesity and increased Alcohol consumption, although such a link has not yet been studied across cultures.

What’s next?

Caines says further research is needed to determine why Alcohol-induced binge-eating usually focuses on Salty. Greasy, foods such as Nachos:

“I’ve never had a drink and then really fancied a salad. It would be interesting to see if [intoxicated] mice have a preference for a high-fat diet.”

Stay tuned!

~ Maggie J.