WHAT do top chefs and drug dealers have in common? They both provide you with a pleasure hit that targets the same part of the brain – and anticipation is the key. Gene-Jack Wang at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York State and his colleagues studied brain changes in 10 hungry volunteers presented with their favourite nosh.
The subjects were allowed to taste a tiny amount and smell the dish, but not to tuck in. PET scans of their brains showed raised levels of dopamine, a substance which transmits nerve messages associated with pleasure – and drug-taking. But the response is…
