HHH

Can we run away from tasty food? Not easy, as it turns out. We often fall for the temptation of food, willingly, despite knowing that we eat in excess at our own peril! But then, our desire to eat is ruled by the H-H-H trio of our brain.

The first “H” stands for hunger. This of course, is why we need to eat. We eat to live, and hunger signals tell us when we need to eat. If we fast for a long time, our body’s energy stores come down, and a hunger signaling hormone pattern tells our body to eat. Simple.

It gets more complicated with the second “H”. This stands for the hedonic* or pleasure-seeking nature of food. We crave for tasty food. The more sugary it is the better it is, for sugar temporarily releases a surge of happy hormones in our brain. Here we do not eat for our energy needs, but only for pleasure as a goal in itself.

And finally, there is the heuristic** or the third ’H”! Heuristics are shortcuts for trying to solve problems swiftly, given certain time constraints. Imagine there is a plate of jalebis in front of you, and you have just eaten a sumptuous meal. Of course, you are not hungry, but the hedonic (pleasure seeking) craving for food exists. You now need to make a quick decision whether you should eat or not! You have several things to consider. First is your state of mind- are you stressed? You will then certainly wish to eat, for isn’t stressed written as desserts when spelled backwards? Second, you begin to think: aren’t sugars unhealthy when eaten in excess? And as a third consideration, you try to rationalize by telling yourself that you haven’t eaten jalebis for a month, never mind the fact that you have eaten cakes, laddus, pastries, candies and rosgullas in the last month! Given the time constraints, your brain has to make and execute the decision in less than a second. In the ensuing seconds of course, the result is that you have your jalebi and more than one at that! Why? Because our decision-making function, which lies at the front end of the brain, cannot be relied upon to make the correct split-second decision every time, every minute and every second. This tendency to make errors is what makes us “human” - after all we are not computing machines, nor is our intelligence “artificial”.

This HHH concept is one of the reasons for the high occurrence of obesity in the world. Easy availability of junk food, and lack of avenues to exercise are of course among the other reasons. Scientists have long been trying to develop lasting solutions to the problem of appetite regulation and control of the HHH trio. And this has resulted in the development of powerful and effective anti- obesity peptides, or molecules that suppress appetite and make people with obesity feel full and satiated all the time.

Globally, these medications are all the rage, and they are soon set to make an entry in India too.

For people with obesity and associated health problems who have made unsuccessful weight loss attempts, these medications can treat diseases like Diabetes and even protect against heart disease. To know all about these medications, do read our cover story in this issue of Diabetes Health (DH). One hopes that you find our heuristic cover story satisfies your hunger for information in a hedonic manner! Like any medication, these peptides also need to be prescribed judiciously, after considering all benefits and risks.

Beyond medications, the key to treating diseases like obesity and Diabetes lies in following a healthy, balanced diet, being physically active, living a stress-free life and sleeping well. We at DH strive to empower you with the most authentic information to do all this and achieve a life of health and wellness. Happy Reading!

Dr Unnikrishnan AG

Editor

* Definition of hedonic from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary is a person who believes that pleasure is the most important thing in life.

** Definition of heuristic from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary is a person who believes that people should learn by discovering things for themselves.