Endorphins are the body’s natural painkillers. Endorphins bind to the opioid receptor -- the same receptor the powerful painkiller morphine binds to. Endorphins also trigger a pleasure response by activating dopamine receptors. Studies show that foods high in carbohydrates, fat or phenylethylamine, a chemical found in chocolate, can trigger a release of endorphins.
Endorphins
Endorphins are natural opiate-like chemicals that lower pain sensitivity, reduce stress, ease anxiety and create a sense of pleasure. They are produced in the pituitary glands and hypothalamus and are released when you are in pain, when you eat sweets or exercise and during starvation and other forms of stress. Just like the opioid drugs heroin, methadone, morphine and opium, endorphins bind to opioid receptors. The best known of the opioid receptors is the mu receptor, which suppresses pain when stimulated.
Obesity and Eating Disorders
Studies published in the 1991 volume of "Hormone Research" and the 1996 volume of "Neuropsychobiology" show that obese people and people with the eating disorder bulimia have a more drastic release of endorphins in response to meals high in carbohydrates. Eating carbohydrate-rich foods is associated with less stress, less anxiety and less pain for individuals who suffer from obesity or bulimia than for healthy individuals. This may help explain why these individuals are tempted to binge eat carbohydrate-rich foods.
Dopamine Receptors
A review published in the May 2007 issue of "Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews" states that, in addition to triggering a release of endorphins, sugar and other carbohydrates that lead to a sudden elevation of blood sugar also activate the dopamine receptor. This causes a sense of pleasure. Dopamine, which normally binds to the dopamine receptor, is also known as the reward neurotransmitter. The effects of dopamine make you want to repeat certain activities over and over again. Endorphins affect the dopamine receptors more powerfully than dopamine itself.
Sugar Addiction
According to the "Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews" article, since endorphins affect dopamine receptors more strongly than dopamine itself, frequent release of endorphins may make the cells down-regulate the number of dopamine receptors. The result of this is that the normal levels of dopamine associated with everyday activities have fewer receptors to bind to. So normal levels of dopamine then fail to produce pleasure. Only the “drug” can help. This sort of pattern is like a sugar addiction. If you are addicted to sugar and suddenly stop eating it, you may experience withdrawal symptoms, including lower body temperature, shaking, anxiety and depression.
References
- "Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews"; Carbohydrate Ingestion, Blood Glucose and Mood; D. Benton; May 2002
- "Hormone Research"; Beta-Endorphin and Insulin/Glucose Responses to Different Meals in Obesity; P.M. Zelissen, et al.; 1991
- University of Wisconsin-Madison: Wisconsin Study Links Carbohydrate Overeating to Opiate Reaction
- "Brain Research Bulletin"; Sugar, Opioids and Binge Eating; D.T. Fullerton, et al.; June 1984
- "Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews"; Evidence for Sugar Addiction: Behavioral and Neurochemical Effects of Intermittent, Excessive Sugar Intake; N.M. Avena, et al.; May 2007
- "Neuropsychobiology"; Circadian Variations in Plasma ACTH, Cortisol and Beta-Endorphin Levels in Normal-Weight Bulimic Women; P.P. Vescovi, et al.; 1996
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