From: michael perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
... I should add that although material goods may not be a guarantee of happiness, one particular type of commodity may be an exception in its ability to ward off unhappiness -- at least consumers seem to think so. In particular, many people turn to medication ...
[Let's not neglect those who share Homer Simpson's pursuit of happiness:]
May 3, 2005
Kick the Doughnut Habit, and Make Your Nutritionist Smile
By MARTICA HEANER
No matter which route Reginald Burns takes when he drives to work each morning in Houston, he knows every doughnut shop along the way. Almost every day, he stops for a fix: a Diet Coke and six doughnuts - any kind as long as they have just emerged from the fryer.
"A hot doughnut literally melts in your mouth," said Mr. Burns, 47, a finance director for a nonprofit organization.
Doughnuts have long been an American breakfast staple. At the same time, their lack of quality nutritional content makes most nutritionists cringe. This contradiction makes them a perfect talking point in the debate over how strict dietary recommendations should be.
Some dietitians believe that people should strive for an ideal diet, cutting out foods that that have been stripped of many nutrients, packed with potentially detrimental ingredients like the unhealthy kinds of fats or both. In this view, doughnuts don't make the cut.
"When it comes to health, the only thing good about them is the hole," Carla Wolper, a senior nutritionist at the New York Obesity Research Center. ...
Some experts say succumbing to a warm doughnut's allure may increase cravings.
"Foods containing both sugar and fat are the most palatable and have an appealing mouth feel," said Dr. Kathleen Keller, an appetite researcher at the Obesity Research Center, adding that companies "conduct extensive research to determine the exact sugar/fat proportions that are the most enticing."
Such feel-good foods are not only hard to resist, they may actually be addictive in people with a stronger than normal genetic propensity to like foods that are especially high in fat and sugar. Brain scans using functional magnetic resonance imaging show that lean and obese people react differently not just to eating tasty foods, but even to looking at them.
And high-carbohydrate foods like doughnuts, brain scan studies find, raise the levels of two brain chemicals, serotonin, linked to mood, and dopamine, associated with pleasurable, rewarding sensations, in obese and normal-weight people.
Dr. Walter C. Willett, a Harvard researcher who is the author of "Eat, Drink and Be Healthy," and a hard-liner when it comes to nutrition, recommends that people kick the doughnut habit. "When it comes to health, I do not believe a person should compromise," he wrote in an e-mail message.
But it is not always so easy. Dr. Eric Swartz, a chiropractor in Los Angeles, admits to a lifelong struggle to keep his doughnut consumption in check. "I have managed to limit myself to eating them once a week, but I could not completely give them up because when I'm depressed, they always make me feel better," he said. ...
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/03/health/nutrition/03cons.html>
Carl
