Don't Go To McDonalds When You're Hungry
A recent study at McGill University in Montreal, Canada proved that ghrelin, a hunger-inducing hormone in our gut, enhances the image of junk food's yumminess. The stimulant is naturally activated when hungry, causing quarter pounders and greasy pizza to look overwhelmingly tasty and unavoidable, as if we're junkies looking at crack.
Coverage of this study at science fiction blog io9 was assigned the following headline: Fast Food Joints Add Hormone to Food That Makes You Want to Eat More. Despite this insinuation of food tampering, the McGill study never said that. Or aimed to prove that.
Along with the headline, the entry created a scandalous tone by noting, "since ghrelin isn't regulated, a fast food restaurant that wanted to sell more food could easily turn it into an additive in their hamburgers or donuts, essentially 'addicting' people to their food.." But as far as we know, Ronald McDonald hasn't done that. Most commenters responded with "aha!" remarks. As if, all this time, we've been duped into eating fries laced with a crack-like drug. See, it's not my fault I wolfed down that entire extra-value meal, readers must have been thinking.
Instead, the study proves that when we're hungry, we're vulnerable. Just like Mama always said: don't go to the grocery store when famished. You'll buy tons of crap you don't need. The same goes for any fast food joint. Mr. Ghrelin the Cunning Hormone will jump out and talk you into that double-bacon cheeseburger you don't really want. He's the sneaky one here, not necessarily the fast food lords.
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4 Comments:
"don't go to the grocery store when famished."
Geeze, I proved this to myself on Saturday. I drove to a trail, did a long run, and stopped at the supermarket to pick up milk. Two bags of Chex Mix, two half-gallons of ice cream, a container of Pringles, and a half-gallon of chocolate milk later, I remembered, "Oh, right, milk." Of course, when I actually got home, I didn't eat of it, I had two bowls of cereal (with the milk!) but now I have this stuff just sitting around the house.
Wally East at 2:11PM on 05/08/08
You have McDonald's in your headline....but that's clearly a photo of an In-N-Out cheeseburger. Two Points: 1) you've conflated two things that shouldn't be and 2) you've created a craving for an In-N-Out burger. A photo of a McDonald's burger wouldn't have done any such thing.
ccbweb at 3:46PM on 05/08/08
Even if it was added to food, it would most likely not reach the bloodstream in physiologically active form.
wunami at 11:59PM on 05/08/08
Not to be a scaremonger, but couldn't they put some of that hormone into scent-dispenser? It would be absorbed nasally, like the chemicals in Nasonex, or cocaine, or even our natural pheremones.
(Has anyone else heard that McDonald's puts fry-scent diffusers on the outside of their buildings to lure in passersby? I think I read that in Fast Food Nation, but it's been a while. Clarification?)
butterface at 2:10PM on 05/09/08