ROME—A new study from researchers at the Santa Lucia Foundation linked previous stressful experiences to compulsive food-seeking even in the face of negative consequences.
The research, published in BMC Neuroscience, revealed chocolate-craving mice tolerated electric shocks to get their tasty treat. Researchers trained well-fed mice and starved mice to seek chocolate in one chamber rather than going into an empty chamber. They added a mild electric shock to the chamber containing the chocolate. The well-fed animals avoided the chocolate; mice that had previously been starved, before being allowed to eat their way back up their normal weight, continued to seek out chocolate despite the painful consequences.
