Dinner is served in both one and two courses. You feel that you are absolutely stuffed and can’t eat anything more. But then the rice cream or caramel pudding arrives on the table. Suddenly you have more space after all. Why? Evolution has ensured that the stomach will let you know that there is always room for dessert. Always room for sweet food – I can eat a lot of dinner food, and then comes dessert. Then I want more portions. No matter how full I am. That’s what Mio says, who is on a Christmas trip to Bodø. Friends Mio and Nora are both known to always have room for dessert. Photo: Malin Nygård Solberg / news – I think the dessert stomach is bigger than the normal stomach, says her friend Nora. And it’s not just in Norway that we always have room for dessert. The dessert stomach seems to be a fascinating phenomenon. The friends Ana and Ana from Spain are well aware that there is always room for dessert, even if the word “dessert stomach” does not exist in Spanish. Photo: Malin Nygård Solberg / news – We certainly know that. It is the same way in Spain. Even if you’re full, you can still take a little more when there’s a cake on the table, say the friends, who are both named Ana. Not an extra stomach But the dessert stomach is not just a phenomenon in the head. Something actually happens in the stomach. Simon Erling Nitter Dankel is professor of medicine and biochemistry at the Mohn Nutrition Research Laboratory, UiB. He says that the stomach and digestive system have sensors that react to glucose and sugar. Simon Erling Nitter Dankel, professor of medicine and biochemistry at UiB, says that the stomach and the head work together to make room for sweet food. Photo: UiB – It causes the stomach to expand. Then you can eat more, he says. You don’t get another stomach. But one gets to eat more. The stomach simply gets a little bigger to accommodate the dessert. But you don’t even have to smell the dessert for that to happen. It’s good to think about him. – An expectation can open it up. If you think about eating steak after eating steak, you don’t want it, but you always want dessert. Through evolution, our body has developed to secure enough nutrition when there is access to it. Especially sweet food. Photo: Fra Kvelden before the evening 2015 / news So it is both the brain and the stomach that work together. – The body has very strong mechanisms to ensure the intake of sugar and sweets. Through evolution, our body has developed to secure enough nutrition when there is access to it. Especially sweet food. – There are nerve pathways from the brain to the digestive system. We are screwed together in such a way that we must secure enough sustenance when we get access to it. Especially sweet things, says Dankel. The professor says that this is also the reason why we structure the meal the way we do, with dessert at the end. Clinical nutritionist Mone Eli Sæland says that sugar and sweet foods cause the contents of the stomach to be emptied more quickly into the small intestine. Photo: University of Oslo/Faculty of Medicine Clinical nutritionist Mone Eli Sæland says that there is something to be said for wanting something sweet after a different taste. – Of the taste experiences sour, sweet, salty, bitter, pungent and umami, it is sweet that we “tolerate” the most. She also points out that sugar causes stomach contents to be emptied more quickly into the small intestine. It makes room for more. Sugar-free tricks the brain But then maybe the solution is to cut out some of the sugar and instead focus on sugar-free products? Not necessarily, says the professor from UiB. – Sugar-free food and drink can work in the same way. It’s about how the stomach handles it. Dankel says that new studies from spring 2022 show that artificial sweeteners can also have a negative effect on the intestinal flora. Photo: Sondre Skjelvik / news Sugar-free food also disrupts the metabolism of carbohydrates in the body. – It can affect the insulin regulation in the body and the metabolism. – It is not just about replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners, says Dankel. And both sugar-free and food with regular sugar can make you overeat. – So you manage to take in more of this type of food before you feel full. Then you should be a little careful, so you don’t eat too much, says the professor. Nutritionist Sæland says that sugar-free food can also cause blood sugar to drop. – Fluctuating blood sugar increases the feeling of hunger. More of the stress hormone adrenaline can contribute to a rise in blood sugar after consuming artificial sweeteners. Many people believe that drinking alcohol such as aquavit with the Christmas meal helps digestion. But the professor says that is just a myth. Photo: Helle Therese Kongsrud / news – What about alcohol then, does it work the same way? – I don’t think it’s the alcohol itself, but the sweetness in the drink that works. Sweet drinks with alcohol can also make you feel pleasantly full. Alcohol also often causes blood sugar to drop. Then you also get hungry and crave something sweet, adds the nutritionist. Professor Dankel from UiB points out in this context that it is a myth that alcohol helps digestion. It does not help to digest the fatty Christmas food. Not a smaller dinner But if the stomach gets bigger from eating the dessert, perhaps the solution is to eat a slightly smaller dinner? Dankel believes it is more important to get enough of the nutritious food, i.e. dinner. The traditional Christmas food has both vegetables and other good nutrition, Dankel believes. If you don’t eat too much food during the year, you should eat it with a clear conscience, says the professor of medicine. Photo: Vegard T. Blakstad / news – Christmas food is basically very healthy and nutritious. Then come the cakes and sweets as well. Therefore, the professor would advise people to enjoy the traditional food, and not to indulge in too many cakes. Christmas food is an old tradition. From a time when we needed fat in our food. – Is the Christmas dinner simply too old-fashioned, as the food supply is today? – There is an abundance today that is different. We have it all year round and even more at Christmas than we had before. But the good fatty food is not what the research suggests is the main problem for public health.
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Dessert stomach – the stomach expands when you eat sugar. The same happens with sugar-free – news Nordland
