More Than the Scale
How much do you weigh? If your body mass index (BMI) is within 20–24.9, your doctor will tell you that you are a good weight. It is assumed that you are eating the right amount for you. If you are overweight though, it is assumed that you must be an overeater. While there may be some legitimacy to this thinking, in many situations, it doesn’t tell the whole truth.
The result of overeating is often limited to the scale. However, it is possible to overeat and yet have a BMI that falls within normal range. It is possible to be a thin glutton, perhaps not eating enough of the right kinds of foods. This is not a point I wish to defend in this article. Instead, I would like to discuss how overeating affects more than just our weight.
Ellen White made an interesting statement about the effect of overeating. She wrote, “… the power of the brain is lessened by drawing so heavily upon it to help the stomach get along with its heavy burden…”
Hmm. What comes to mind when you think of the power of the brain? I can tell you what I think of my brain power being zapped: how about brain fog, poor memory, aversion to tackle deep thinking, mental fatigue, headaches, no will power ….
Science is validating that the brain can indeed become structurally and chemically altered as a result of eating a surplus of certain foods, creating a cycle of craving and overeating.
A team of scientists at the University of Helsinki, Finland, analyzed brain scans from 30,000 participants. They were trying to determine whether eating ultra-processed foods was associated with overeating. They found structural differences in the brains of those who consistently ate ultra-processed foods. 1
Gene-Jack Wang, M.D., and Nora Volkow, M.D. at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) conducted brain imaging studies comparing PET scans of ten obese individuals with a control group. They found structural changes in the brain of those who were obese. They also found significantly fewer dopamine receptors in certain areas. In fact, those who had the highest BMI also had the lowest number of dopamine receptors. Dopamine is one of our brains crucial brain neurotransmitters that communicates pleasure and reward. Fewer receptors are also seen in drug addicts. This decreased ability to activate the pleasure response is both the consequence of and the stimulus for overeating, especially of exciting, stimulating foods. 2
In their research, this same team observed “increased activation and structural prominence of the somatosensory regions associated with the mouth and lips in obese individuals. This finding suggests the brain’s representation of the mouth may be hyper-responsive, potentially leading to greater attention to oral sensations and an intensified reward response during eating. Alarmingly, the brain’s ‘real estate’ becomes dominated by food-related processing in obese people. Wang proposed this brain change undermines willpower and restraint as it relentlessly reinforces habitual and compulsive overeating.” 3
Another way in which overeating has been found to affect brain power is via the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is thought of as the seat of appetite and craving, monitoring the hunger hormones and energy needs of the body. High sugar and fat intake has been associated with promoting inflammation of the hypothalamus, resulting in impaired energy balance, overeating, and defective insulin and leptin signaling. 4 Leptin has been nicknamed our “skinny hormone.” It communicates something like this to the hypothalamus: “We’ve got enough food on board, no more needed, you’re not hungry anymore.” When inflamed, the hypothalamus doesn’t hear that message well, and the cycle of overeating continues.
All this is a glimpse of the reality that our overeating of food—specifically hyperpalatable, ultra-processed food—reconstructs our brain in response. This reconstruction not only leads to a heightened desire for more of these foods as our dopamine response has been blunted from reduction in receptor numbers, but also because the brain has become dominated by “food on the brain” while our will-POWER is simultaneously weakened.
I cherish the power of my brain to be able to regulate my weight, my appetite, but most of all my will. I need all the brain power I can have. Learning about how food can remodel the brain has provided me with incredible incentive to seek God and His ways to experience the renewing of my mind.
- University of Helsinki. Eating ultra-processed foods may rewire the brain and drive overeating. ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/10/251020092824.htm
- Wang G, Volkow N, Logan J et al., Brain dopamine and obesity. The Lancet, 357, 354-357. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(00)03643-6/abstract
- Gold, M. S., MD. (2025, May 19). New studies show that brain changes may persist even after weight loss. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/addiction-outlook/202505/obesity-actually-changes-your-brain?msockid=0fbb0743a18966333d9f1045a0716777
- Bhusal, A., Rahman, M. H., & Suk, K. (2021). Hypothalamic inflammation in metabolic disorders and aging. Cellular and molecular life sciences: CMLS, 79(1), 32.