Jakarta –
Even though the stomach is full after eating the main, many people still crave eating sweet foods. This form of cravings of food can be answered scientifically. Here’s the explanation.
For most people, the taste is incomplete if you eat the main but not ‘closed’ with the consumption of sweet foods. Therefore they often look for sweet food even though the stomach is actually full.
This condition apparently did not just happen. Researchers found scientific answers behind it. Quoting Food & Wine (8/3/2025), in February 2025, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for metabolic research in Cologne, Germany, published a new report in the journal Science that examined the effects of sugar consumption after someone felt full.
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They found that the neuron of the pro-opiomelanocortin hypothalamus (POMC) in the hypothalamus is responsible for this effect. Hypothalamus itself is a part of the brain that regulates hormones and creates hunger, thirst, drowsiness, and fullness after eating.
The pomc hormone pushing the desire to eat sweet
 It turns out there is a scientific reason behind why someone craves dessert even though he is full. Photo: Pinterest/ Esma |
“We found that POMC neurons not only increase fullness in conditions after eating, but simultaneously activate the desire to consume sugar, which encourages excessive consumption,” explained the researchers.
Simply put, the research team explains that the same nerve cells that make us feel full, apparently also triggers our desire to eat sweet foods afterwards.
Researchers even reveal that only by perceiving eating sweet foods, the brain releases opium ß-endorphins. This condition makes sense evolving because sugar provides fast energy. This applies to mice and humans.
Read the next page to find out the answers to the researcher about ‘Dessert Stomach’.
