Sistema de recompensa e obesidade

Abstract

Overweight and obesity affect six out of ten Brazilians, such conditions are linked to several factors, such as genetic, psychological, family, environmental and social. In this work, it will be discussed how the reward system affects the behavior of such individuals. Reward mechanisms act directly on the human body, regulating caloric intake and increasing the search for hyper-palatable foods. in individuals with obesity this search is more accentuated. The pleasure obtained as a reward in the search for these foods is not the same when purchased with eutrophic individuals, that is, they have a greater motivation to seek these foods, and a lower reward when eating them. To obtain the same level of reward, they more often repeat the act of searching for such foods, making their intake high in calories, leading to a case of overweight and obesity.