MIND. The Hawthorne Effect and our Food System.
I feel a great sense of privilege that I have been able to work on farms and experience food in other cultures to have an understanding of just how messed up the Westernized food system is. Aisle after aisle packed with substances our body barely recognizes as food; yet, in its miraculousness and wisdom, it still figures out a way to get the body to run on foreign fuel. For a time, anyways.
I learned of a term this past year that helps me explain to patients the effect of how acute awareness can to translate to change in action. In the psychology world, it is called the Hawthorne Effect. Put succinctly, it is the modification of one’s behavior with the knowledge that they are being observed. I like to relate this aspect to patient care with the invitation to just have awareness of how the current food system has highjacked our brains. Imagine 2,000 years ago where food sources which much more scarce and things like honey or fruit were few and far between. But when they were found, it translated an evolutionary survival signal that said, “you get to live another day.” That hardwiring for survival, embedded in a sweet coating, still exists in our brains and DNA today. It is an unfortunate mismatch with our current environment, which in most places, is nothing like the scare Sahara.
A 2023 study in Translational Psychology reads,
“In our study, using two different reward exposure protocols, we were able to directly show that both cocaine and sucrose treatments triggered identical cellular changes in glutamatergic transmission. Cocaine and sucrose similarly strengthen excitatory synapses on D1 and, presumably, weaken those on D2 neurons.”
Some have interpreted this to say that sugar is as addictive as cocaine. And while a part of that may be true, a part sensationalized for mass media consumption, it sure is fascinating to even consider that sucrose (sugar) and cocaine both light up the brain in a similar pattern of dopamine (reward) response. Meanwhile, take a look at the ingredients in most of the processed food products out there, and no doubt you will find some form of sugar ensconced in the label. Our brains have been highjacked all too easily, and food researchers know it.
This is where the Hawthorne effect comes into play. With this awareness of what is happening, there is the potential to modify the behavior in what you choose to eat. This is usually the point in the visit where I will tell patients a favorite line I heard from a podcast about the profitable, yet crooked way of the food system and how it is effecting their health:
“It’s not your fault, but is your problem.”
While you didn’t ask for this to be the reality of where you shop or how much your brain loves things high-fructose corn syrup, it is your responsibility to recognize and manage. It is time for all of us to start to disobey the food system algorithm that has, for the first time known, shortened the human lifespan compared to the previous generation. Utilize the Hawthorne Effect to your advantage, even if it is in making small changes over time to the foods you choose to eat.
Citation:
Bijoch, Ł., Klos, J., Pawłowska, M. et al. Whole-brain tracking of cocaine and sugar rewards processing. Transl Psychiatry 13, 20 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02318-4