• Question: Why am i sick when i eat to much

    Asked by to Kevin, Fiona on 27 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Kevin O'Dell

      Kevin O'Dell answered on 27 Jun 2014:


      I’m assuming you’re asking this because you have some personal experience of this?!

      The most likely explanation is that your stomach is simply too full and responds by expelling the excess food. Your stomach is a brilliant machine that slowly digests your food, but it doesn’t work so well when too full, so responds by making you sick. It may not always feel like it, but being sick under these circumstances is a good thing.

      To avoid get into this situation your body has two ways of rcognising when it’s full. Firstly the muscles around your stomach expand, and the fact that this has happenned is sent to your brain by your nervous system. Also you body releases a chemical called leptin that travels round your blood to tell your brain your stomach is full.

      Researchers have experimented on this in mice, and found a mutant mouse whose brain doesn’t recognise the chemical message that it’s eaten enough. If you look at this image http://www.bnatural.com.au/msg-obesity-and-you/ you’ll see what it looks like

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