High-Glycemic-Index Foods Turn on Brain Regions Linked to Overeating

High-glycemic-index foods, like white bread and children’s cereals, stimulate brain regions associated with reward and cravings and increase the drive to eat. In a report in the latest American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers at Boston’s Children’s Hospital fed high-GI and low-GI meals to 12 young men and then tracked the activity of various brain regions. The high-GI meal turned on the brain regions involved in reward, craving, and hunger.