Study: Women less able to suppress hunger than men

BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Chinese medianet) -- Faced with their

favorite foods, women are less able than men to suppress their hunger, according

tofindings carriedin the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesas as

quoted by media reports Thursday.

Such findings may help explain the higher obesity rate for females in the United

States, researchers from the Brookhaven National Laboratory said.

The researchers trying to understand the brain's

mechanisms for controlling food intake were surprised at the difference between

the sexes in brain response.

Gene-Jack Wang of the laboratory and

colleagues were trying to figure out why some people overeat and gain weight

while others don't.

They performed brain scans on 13 women and

10 men, who had fasted overnight, to determine how their brains responded

to the sight of their favorite foods.

"There is something going on in the female,"

Wang said, "the signal is so much different."

In the study, participants were quizzed about their

favorite foods, which ranged from pizza to cinnamon buns and burgers to

chocolate cake, and then were asked to fast overnight.

The next day they underwent brain scans while being

presented with their favorite foods. In addition, they used a technique called

cognitive inhibition, which they had been taught, to suppress thoughts of hunger

and eating.

While both men and women said the inhibition

technique decreased their hunger, the brain scans showed that men's brain

activity actually decreased, while the part of women's brains that responds to

food remained active.

"Even though the women said they were less hungry

when trying to inhibit their response to the food, their brains were still

firing away in the regions that control the drive to eat," Wang said.

(Agencies)