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Obesity is even more common in patients with psychiatric disorders than in the general population. In an animal study, researchers examined whether innate preference for high-fat food drives some of the epidemic.
Mice were fed regular chow, high-carbohydrate feed, or high-fat feed. The animals preferred the latter two diets to regular chow. When presented with high-fat and high-carbohydrate diets, the animals significantly preferred the high-fat feed. At 4 weeks, researchers withdrew high-fat and high-carbohydrate diets from some animals (i.e., they were switched to regular chow). After withdrawal, animals lost weight and displayed signs of stress and arousal in experimental paradigms. These changes were much more prolonged or were significa…