A study involving chocolate milkshakes is helping scientists get a better understanding of how the brain influences obesity, with genes playing a role, too.

Obese people may get less satisfaction from food due to a blunted response in brain circuitry relating to pleasure, and may overeat to make up for the decreased pleasure, particularly if they carry a specific gene variant, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

When a person is eating, the body releases dopamine, a chemical in the brain’s reward centers. The amount of pleasure from food depends on the amount of dopamine released.

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