Post #2197560

2026-05-03 05:44 UTC

And the stuff that seems to be missing, question-wise is... I can't seem to find anything addressing this mechanism. It's not like a lack of knowledge is generally driving the eating behaviour. It's not like willpower is the answer either. There doesn't seem to be anything that acknowledges that humans seem to be attempting... neurobiological self-medication... and have done, across multiple cultures... seeking dietary glutamate as a GABA-precursor. And there's nothing that also addresses how that is systematically exploited by our modern processed food environment. Or what that might mean when we ask why people eat what they do. Especially why people eat the way they do when they are stressed. There's plenty of things AROUND it, components of research across multiple fields. But nothing tying this together. At least, that I can see.

Replies (2)

@Tarale@aus.social 2026-05-03 05:52

There's ample research showing that physiological stress affects GABAergic tone. There's plenty of research showing that reduced GABAergic tone alters our food preferences and intake. They've even noticed a thing with poor diets leading to *reduced* frontal GABA but *increased* glutamate. The parallel with carbohydrates and serotonin is very well established. We also very much understand how ultra processed foods hijack our neurotransmitter systems "behavioural handles". Processed foods all exploit three neurotransmitter systems: GABA, serotonin, and dopamine. What I can't find is any study into the cross-cultural comfort food thing. This is my own observation and I can't see it formalised in any literature. But the pattern holds across: ramen (Japan), egusi soup (Nigeria), doro wat (Ethiopia), tagine (Morocco), jollof rice (West Africa), Hainanese chicken rice (Southeast Asia), bolognese (Italy), borscht (Eastern Europe), feijoada (Brazil), sancocho (Latin America), congee (East Asia), dal (South Asia), and many others. The common denominator is long-cooked protein and/or fermentation — both of which produce or concentrate free glutamate. This is not random.

Open ##2197561
@dwillanski@aus.social 2026-05-03 05:54

@Tarale@aus.social sounds like a good start fir a PhD project

Open ##2197584