{"id":7726,"date":"2014-11-10T09:20:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-10T17:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/the-vicious-circle\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T15:11:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T22:11:03","slug":"the-vicious-circle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/the-vicious-circle\/","title":{"rendered":"The Vicious Circle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2014\/11\/kanoski-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2014\/11\/kanoski-1280x720.jpg 1280w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2014\/11\/kanoski-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"illustration\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Illustrations by Peter Hoey for <em>USC Dornsife Magazine<\/em>.\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=faculty\">Faculty<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>The Vicious Circle<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Contemplating devouring that doughnut? Biologist Scott Kanoski\u2019s research shows that eating junk food tricks the brain into wanting to reach for that sugary or fatty treat. \n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Lizzie Hedrick<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">November 10, 2014<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default 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class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <h2>The Feeding Cyclone<\/h2>\n<p>When people eat a hot dog just after gobbling down a slice of pizza, it may not be due to lack of willpower. Rather, the brain\u2019s signaling has been hijacked. It\u2019s the \u201cvicious circle\u201d of our Western diet, said Scott Kanoski, assistant professor of biological sciences. Kanoski has published research describing how consistent consumption of saturated fatty acids and refined carbohydrates (i.e., sugars) disrupts the blood-brain barrier, which leads to dysfunction in the hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped region of the brain, located in the medial temporal lobe.<\/p>\n<p>Hunger and Satiety cues Kanoski\u2019s research shows that the hippocampus controls feeding behavior through detection and processing of circulating hormonal signals. The hormones include ghrelin, which signals hunger, and leptin, which signals satiety. His lab\u2019s most recent paper published in Neuropsychopharmacology identifies the hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) as a key signal that acts in the hippocampus to limit how much food is consumed during a meal and to reduce motivation to eat unhealthy yet tasty food.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Compromised Hippocampus<\/h2>\n<p>Once the hippocampus is affected by excess consumption of foods high in saturated fat and sugar, its ability to detect and utilize these hormonal signals becomes compromised, Kanoski said. Once this happens, people tend to turn to external cues to determine what, how much and when to eat. But the external cues in our environment contribute to unhealthy and excessive eating. For instance, you may become tempted by vending machines at work and fast food restaurants you see on the way home.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Fats, Sugars or Both?<\/h2>\n<p>The next step in Kanoski\u2019s research is to determine which foods exactly \u2014 fats, sugars or both \u2014 are guilty of damaging the hippocampus, how early in life this cycle begins, and whether or not changing eating habits can reverse this cycle on a neurochemical level. His research also unravels how the hippocampus communicates with other regions in the brain to curb excessive overeating. Kanoski hopes that his research will help send the message that restaurants and companies that produce processed foods must alter their ingredients and people must change their eating habits. \u201cIncreased public awareness of the neurological changes caused by the foods we eat, and serve our children, will hopefully help people make different food choices and ultimately transform our eating culture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/\"><em>Read more stories from <\/em>USC Dornsife Magazine<em>\u2018s Fall 2014-Winter 2015 issue.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <figure id=\"attachment_28053\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28053\" style=\"width: 2400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-28053 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2014\/11\/kanoski.jpg\" alt=\"illustration\" width=\"2400\" height=\"866\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2014\/11\/kanoski.jpg 2400w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2014\/11\/kanoski-500x180.jpg 500w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2014\/11\/kanoski-1024x369.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2014\/11\/kanoski-768x277.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2014\/11\/kanoski-1536x554.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2014\/11\/kanoski-2048x739.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2400px) 100vw, 2400px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-28053\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Illustration: Peter Hoey.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contemplating devouring that doughnut? Biologist Scott Kanoski\u2019s research shows that eating junk food tricks the brain into wanting to reach for that sugary or fatty treat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":970,"featured_media":28053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[480,481,109],"class_list":["post-7726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty","tag-health","tag-scott-kanoski","tag-usc-dornsife-magazine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Vicious Circle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/the-vicious-circle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Vicious Circle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Contemplating devouring that doughnut? 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