It is a fact that our health has been under siege from the food industry for a very long time. What is more difficult to swallow is that our government does nothing about it!
Research by the World Health Organization has revealed shocking figures about the percentage of the population that is overweight. This is no less than 50% and in some countries even more than that. But advertisements for unhealthy products are everywhere, they are literally piling up. These advertisements are made in such a way that your mouth starts watering on the couch watching them. So you will run to the fridge or pantry before the advertisement is over. These advertisements influence you greatly in your own free choice in how you want to feed yourself. Of course, we also have our own responsibility in this. You cannot blame everything on an advert, saying NO to yourself is a powerful thing. But saying NO to an addicted body and brain is downright impossible. This is exactly what all those food manufacturers are playing on.
There is such a thing as Neuromarketing
Below, Roland Dietvorst of Neuro Labs speaks in an interview by the NOS.
“When the pleasure centre in the brain turns red, people experience pleasure or desire. That’s what you want.” Speaking is Roeland Dietvorst of Neuro Labs, which measures brain activity while watching advertisements. A growing group of advertisers is researching what exactly advertisements do to your brain in order to create more effective campaigns. It is called neuromarketing. The MRI scanner is one of the technologies used in neuromarketing.
“It is very hard data”, says Joris van Amerom of ‘Opennow’ in the same interview. “Those colours essentially say something, and if you can then link that brain activity to buying behaviour, then it becomes very interesting. “We assume that most influencing of behaviour takes place on a subconscious level. I think this is going to change the world of advertising”.
Shocking statements from scientists who make it their business to influence our brain in our buying and eating behaviour. But which centres in our brain are influenced by these advertisements and what makes us so unwilling? We dived into the scientific research for this.
Scientific research
We found, among others, this study on the effect of junk food on our brain. It measured the effect of a diet containing sugar, many carbohydrates and rich in saturated fat (junk food). This diet was given to a group of young students for a week. This was done because previous studies had shown that eating junk food had an enormous impact on the brains of test animals. In this study, it is investigated whether it had the same effect on humans. It turned out that the hippocampus in the test animals functioned less well after a week of junk food. This area of the brain is important for memory and helps regulate appetite. This study showed that junk food has the same effect on the human brain after just one week of unhealthy food!
The Brain Foundation says the following about the function of the hippocampus
This brain area is located at the bottom/front of the temporal lobe and is part of the limbic system. The name comes from the Greek word for seahorse. The hippocampus plays an important role in storing information in memory, spatial orientation and controlling behavior that is important for survival.
Test animals in which the hippocampus is damaged react much more violently to unexpected stimuli, for example, but the reaction is superficial and short-lived. Moreover, these animals no longer manage to adapt their behavior properly to changed circumstances. Within humans, bilateral damage to the hippocampus can lead to a reduced ability to absorb new information into the memory. In eating behavior, this means that when too much wrong food has been consumed, the ability of the hippocampus to turn this around is greatly reduced.
Students were divided in two groups
For this study, what kind of effect junk food has on the brain, students of a healthy weight were divided into two groups. One group received a western diet, i.e. lots of junk food, sugars and saturated fats. For the control group, their normal diet was given, and they had two breakfasts that were low in fat and sugars. The junk food group ate Belgian waffles for breakfast and were given money to buy fast food.
The results were significant. This was due to the various tests carried out among the subjects before, during and after eating. These tests showed that among the junk food group, memory deteriorated somewhat after a week. Next to that, this group of students had a much stronger craving for even more junk food. Since the degree to which the memory of the junk food group deteriorated corresponds to the degree to which their desire for junk food increased even when they were satiated, the researchers believe that these effects can be traced back to the hippocampus.
So what happens to the hippocampus?
According to the researchers, when we see tasty and unhealthy things, we immediately remember how delicious they taste. Normally, when we have eaten and are full, the hippocampus suppresses these memories and thus also the desire to eat the food. After eating junk food for a week, it turns out that the hippocampus suppresses these memories less well, and so the appetite remains. So we constantly eat bad food again, even when we are truly satiated. And this is exactly what advertisements play on. Our reward center is activated by the sight of all that good food. We run to the cupboards without wanting to and eat things we don’t want to eat. So this has an increasing effect on our control and memory of what we should not eat.
In the same study, the researchers say that because the brake, as it were, has been removed from our eating pattern, this will lead to diseases and complaints. This is especially the case in prosperous countries. Reduced functioning of the hippocampus has previously been linked to stress, depression, insomnia and type 2 diabetes. Reason enough to start thinking about this. But also reason enough for our government to tackle the continuous stimulation of non-healthy food.
Being obese has nothing to do with not being strong enough
So being obese has nothing to do with not being powerful enough to say no. It has to do with your brain chemistry, your hippocampus. But it also has to do with all kinds of inflammatory reactions in your body that are caused by this wrong diet. In order for the immunity to be able to attack these inflammatory reactions, energy is needed again. So we load ourselves up with food in order to be able to make this energy for the immunity. Normally, our bodies should be able to do this, but at a certain point so much energy is needed that we ‘eat extra’ to be able to supply it. This creates an intense vicious circle whereby people just keep on eating. In the meantime, people are ashamed of this and do not feel well, but cannot find a way out of this vicious circle.
Should the government put a ban on advertisements with unhealthy foods?
We certainly think so! It is really abracadabra for us why the government puts everything that brings health, such as vitamins, minerals and other substances, under such heavy regulations. These regulations are that harsh that as a producer, you can hardly advertise the product anymore. The government seriously suppresses this and does not stimulate it, because wow, the product you are recommending could be healthy! But on the other hand, the food industry has free rein to influence our brains. So that an unaware person stuffs himself, almost on command, and creates all kinds of diseases! In our eyes, hypocrisy of the highest order! Undoubtedly, as we have often noted on our platform, taxpayers money has a large share in these choices.
Obesity or excess weight is one thing you can get from all that unhealthy food, but it is simply a silent killer. Many diseases and complaints are simply caused by unhealthy food. http://Diabetes is preventable Unhealthy food should really be banned completely, and the advertisements should never be shown again, not anywhere! There needs to be a total switch in this mindset if we want to avoid falling over in 30 years’ time because of the immense number of unnecessary illnesses and the pressure on healthcare as a result.
JUST THINK!
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