Gut-Brain Dopamine Pathway Drives Learned Food Preferences over Time

Slow-Acting Dopamine Pathway May Explain How Bitter Tastes Become Cravings

Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco have identified a slow dopamine signal that runs from the gut to the brain and teaches us to like foods that make us feel good. The post Slow-Acting Dopamine Pathway May Explain How Bitter Tastes Become Cravings appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Gut-brain dopamine pathway drives learned food preferences over time

If you can remember your first sip of coffee, the memory might not be a pleasant one. Coffee's bitter flavor is one we naturally steer clear of. So how do coffee fans learn to love it?

How your brain learned to love coffee, chocolate, fat and sugar

If you can remember your first sip of coffee, the memory might not be a pleasant one. Coffee's bitter flavor is one we naturally steer clear of. So how do coffee fans learn to love it? The answer may lie in an understudied "slow" dopamine pathway connecting the gut and brain. A new study from UC San Francisco shows that this pathway helps the brain connect a flavor with the beneficial effects that follow ingesting it.

How Slow-Acting Dopamine Pathways Link Bitter Tastes to Food Cravings

Few people enjoy their first sip of coffee, yet millions eventually crave it. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, say they have identified part of the biological mechanism behind this shift: a slow dopamine signal that travels from the gut to the brain and helps people learn to prefer foods associated with rewarding [...]

Why Bitter Coffee Starts to Taste So Good to Your Brain

Why do we learn to love the bitter taste of coffee? A study in Nature led by UCSF reveals an internal "slow" dopamine circuit connecting gut nutrient sensors to the left amygdala, building over minutes to link post-ingestive caloric rewards with new flavors.