Dr. Deborah Clegg of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center conducted a study on the effects of unhealthy saturated fats, such as palmitic acid - which is widely common in beef, cheese, milk and butter - on hormones responsible for regulating human appetites.
She determined that when the body consumes foods with high fat contents, it becomes less sensitive to the protein hormones leptin and insulin, which work together to allow the brain to inform the body when it should stop eating.
In mice and rats, she found that this decrease in sensitivity can last up to three days. The study's results highlight the implication that unhealthy eating habits can be self-perpetuating - eat junk food, crave more junk food. The study may also be relevant to those suffering from diabetes because it showed that certain types of fats are more dangerous than others in causing insulin resistance.
-compiled by Kate Singleton
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