Researchers randomly assigned 49 people without excess weight to consume a high-fat, high-sugar yogurt or a low-fat, low-sugar yogurt with the same number of calories twice a day. (The low-fat yogurt had more protein.)
After 8 weeks, those assigned to the high-fat, high-sugar yogurt expressed a decreased preference for low-fat pudding. They also had a greater MRI response in some parts of the brain while both anticipating and consuming a milkshake.
What to do
It’s much too early to know if high-fat, high-sugar foods rewire the brain’s reward circuits to want more fatty sweets or if they just change our taste preferences.
But keeping a lid on fatty sweets—like ice cream, cookies, cupcakes, doughnuts, cinnamon rolls, and muffins—can’t hurt.
