The Science Of Healthy Eating - Fast Food Or Vegetables?

Cake Or Carrots? - How The Brain Decides

When you open the refrigerator for a late-night snack, are you more likely to grab a slice of chocolate cake or a bag of carrot sticks? Your ability to exercise self-control may depend upon just how quickly your brain factors healthfulness into a decision, according to a recent study by Caltech neuroeconomists.

"In typical food choices, individuals need to consider attributes like health and taste in their decisions," says graduate student Nicolette Sullivan, lead author of the study, which appears in the December 15 issue of the journal Psychological Science. 

Since we know that taste appears before health, we know that it has an advantage in the ultimate decision. However, once health comes online, if you wait - allowing the health information to accumulate for longer - that might give health a chance to catch up and influence the choice, said the new study.

Caltech article