Appetite has a brain switch

Appetite has a brain switch

December 20, 2025

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By Agnes Vernet THE Subscribers

A brain structure triggers or stops our appetite, to the point of making bitter tastes or inedible objects irresistible… This discovery opens a new avenue of research in the neurobiology of appetite, and even in the treatment of eating disorders.

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A brain structure triggers our appetite, to the point of making even inedible objects irresistible!

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This article is taken from the monthly magazine Sciences et Avenir n°946, dated December 2025.

Are you familiar with the BNST? The " bed nucleus of the stria-terminalis", or the bed nuclei of the stria terminalis in plain English? Because this brain structure, located just in front of the hypothalamus, in the deepest region of the brain, has just acquired a whole new level of fame in the world of neurobiology, after a team from Columbia University in New York (USA) devoted an article to it in the journal Cell.

Appetite Neurons Eating disorders

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