overeating in pets

New research about overeating

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UCLA psychologists have discovered a circuit in the brain of mice that makes them crave food and seek it out, even when they are not hungry. What is interesting about this discovery is that when the group of cells is stimulated, the mice seek fatty and pleasurable foods such as chocolate instead of healthier foods such as carrots.

The area of the brain where the cells are located is called the periaqueductal gray which is in the brainstem. When these cells are stimulated, the mice are so driven to eat that they will endure foot shocks to get to the food. The opposite occurs when the researchers inject a virus that produces a protein that reduces the cells activity even hungry mice foraged less.

“Like mice, humans also possess vgat PAG cells in the brainstem. It could be that if this circuit is overactive in a person, they might feel more rewarded by eating or crave food when not hungry. Conversely, if this circuit is not active enough, they could have less pleasure associated with eating, potentially contributing to anorexia. If found in humans, the food-seeking circuit could become the treatment target for some kinds of eating disorders.”

Sue’s Note: If mice have this cluster of cells, it stands to reason that other animals have it as well. Could this be why some of our pets overeat and some have low appetites?

Journal Reference:

  1. Fernando M. C. V. Reis, Sandra Maesta-Pereira, Matthias Ollivier, Peter J. Schuette, Ekayana Sethi, Blake A. Miranda, Emily Iniguez, Meghmik Chakerian, Eric Vaughn, Megha Sehgal, Darren C. T. Nguyen, Faith T. H. Yuan, Anita Torossian, Juliane M. Ikebara, Alexandre H. Kihara, Alcino J. Silva, Jonathan C. Kao, Baljit S. Khakh, Avishek Adhikari. Control of feeding by a bottom-up midbrain-subthalamic pathway. Nature Communications, 2024; 15 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46430-5

Cite This Page:

University of California – Los Angeles. “Craving snacks after a meal? It might be food-seeking neurons, not an overactive appetite.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 20 March 2024. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240320122517.htm>.

Stress causes overeating in pets

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Researcher Sora Shin, an assistant professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech has discovered a molecule that triggers the need to eat high fat foods in mice 24 hours after being exposed stress in the form of the scent of cats.

This molecule is found in the hypothalamus section of the brain which is the part of the brain that is connected to changes in the brain that lead to emotional overeating.

 The same molecule is found in people as well as animals. This discovery may lead to treatment methods that can help people who react to the emotionally driven need to overeat, even when they are not hungry.

Sue’s Note: There are many animals, particularly dogs and cats that tend to overeat which result in them becoming obese. Pet owners who have pets that have this problem should consider stress as a factor that causes their pets to overeat. First be sure that the family or friends are not over feeding the pets. If this is not the case the pet owner should evaluate the possibility that stress may be a cause. Since the study showed that the effects of stress can cause overeating 24 hours later, the pet owner should consider events that happened in the last 24 hours. An example would be someone or something that passes the pet’s home when the owner is not home that causes high stress in the pet. In situations where stress is a factor, reducing the amount of food that the pet has access to may cause a greater amount of stress. In this case over the counter calming remedies may help the pet. If not a visit to your veterinarian would be in order explaining to the veterinarian that you suspect stress is a cause of the overeating. Print a copy of the article in the link below to show your veterinarian if necessary.

Journal Reference:

  1. In-Jee You, Yeeun Bae, Alec R. Beck, Sora Shin. Lateral hypothalamic proenkephalin neurons drive threat-induced overeating associated with a negative emotional state. Nature Communications, 2023; 14 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42623-6

Cite This Page:

Virginia Tech. “Scientist discovers potential brain link between stress, emotional eating.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 27 November 2023. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/11/231127180702.htm>.