Brain Prize 2017 Winner: To Fight Obesity, High-Calorie Food Should be Sold In Plain Packaging

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Mar 08, 2017 11:47 AM EST

The prestigious Brain Prize 2017 granted €1 million to Peter Dayan, Ray Dolan, and Wolfram Schultz. The three were awarded due to their valuable contributions in the field of neuroscience. They have analyzed the brain mechanism, which involves understanding the human behavior, specifically in decision-making and reward system, according to UCL.

One of the Brain Prize 2017 winners shared his thoughts about the effects of food wrapping to our brain.Multi-colored food packaging triggers people to purchase these products. Excessive eating might occur to these individuals and eventually might lead to obesity, as stated by The Guardian.

Hence, selling calorie-rich food in this packaging should be discouraged. As we know, this marketing strategy, in which colors are being utilized, has been used by many business people in the food industry to attract consumers. However, they insisted that the urge to consume calories should be regulated as it has a substantial effect on people's minds.

Also, one of the Brain Prize 2017 winners elaborated that when you see these items in colorful packaging, which are high in calories, you would be inclined to buying them, probably even more than what you actually want. Once you bring this stuff at home, chances are you'd eat it sooner or later. Or even worse, you might even eat too much.

Obesity is a condition in which the body has an excessive fat tissue. In the United States, there are approximately 78.6 million Americans who are affected by this disease. What's more, the number of obese people is consistently increasing since 1960, reported by Obesity Society.

One of the major reasons for obesity is ingesting too many calories. For instance, an adult needs roughly 2,000 to 2,500 calories in a day. Basically, a calorie is just used to measure energy we acquire when we eat or drink something. So we burn these calories when we perform some physical activities. If not, then it turns into fat.

The scientists' research about the human behavior is indeed incredible. Their study can actually help the world in many ways, especially to understand the complex human behavior. The Brain Prize 2017 winners will be in Copenhagen on May 4 to receive their €1 million award.

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