Study Shows Women Find It Harder to Suppress Hunger Than Men

A new weight loss study conducted by researchers led by Gene-Jack Wang of Brookhaven University appears to show that women find it harder to suppress hunger than men. It may explain why there are more obese women than men.

The research involved participants who fasted overnight and then exposed to the site of food while having their brain scanned. Before the experiment, they were also taught how to suppress the desire for food using a cognitive technique. While both the men and women participants said the hunger suppression technique worked, their brains of the women told otherwise.

Based on the results, it would seem that the men were able to suppress hunger more effectively. On the other hand, the regions of the brain that controlled the desire to eat in women were still active. Rosalyn Weller, a professor of psychology at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, says "training in reducing food desires or in reacting to food cues could be effective treatments to combat obesity."


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