"The Day the Food Noise Stopped"

Many people who strugglestruggle: To make forceful efforts to achieve something despite difficulty; to fight or wrestle. — 奋斗；挣扎；努力 with their weight live with a problem that few scientists used to study. They call it food noisefood noise: constant, repeated thoughts about food running through someone's head — 进食杂音 — a constantconstant: Occurring continuously over a period of time; unchanging — 持续的；不变的 innerinner: Situated inside; relating to the mind or spirit. — 内部的；内心的 voice that talks about food all day longlong: For a great amount of time — 长时间.

Lena Smith Parker, age 53, knows it well. For decadesdecade: A group, set, or series of ten , particularly: — 十年（复数） she dieted and then gainedgain: To obtain or secure something desired; to increase in amount or value. — 获得；增加 the weight back, again and again. The whole time, voices inside her head pushed her to eat and then shamed her for eating. One voice kept telling her that there was cake waiting in the kitchen. Another told her to skipskip: To disregard, miss or omit part of a continuation (some item or stage) — 略过 the salad and reach for the cake instead.

Until recently, researchers did not pay much attention to these thoughts. They were busy studying new obesityobesity: The condition of being extremely overweight to a degree that poses health risks — 肥胖症 drugsobesity drugs: medicines designed to help people lose weight — 减肥药 like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound. They measuredmeasure: to find the size, amount, or degree of something using a tool or system — 测量；衡量 doses, side effectsside effects: extra effects of a drug, often unwanted, beyond the main effect — 副作用, weight lossloss: the fact of no longer having something, or having less of something than before — 损失；丧失weight loss: the act or result of losing body weight — 减重, and other health gains, such as better sleep and lower blood sugar. But people taking the drugs reported something the scientists had missed: the food noise in their heads had suddenly gone quiet.

Why do these thoughts happen at all? Researchers think the answer may lielie: To be placed or situated. — 位于；坐落于 in an idea called the set pointset point: the body weight that a person's biology tends to return to — 体重定点, which is the body weight that your biology naturallynaturally: in a way that is normal and expected; without being made to happen — 自然地；当然 returns to. Old studies from the 1940s showed that animals quickly went back to their starting weight after losing or gaining some, and people seem to behave the same way.

When a person's weight drops below their set point, food noise tendstend: to usually do something or be a certain way — 倾向于；往往会 to kick inkick in: to start taking effect; to begin operating — 开始起作用. The body slows down and pushes the person to eat more food than it really needs. That is one reason why most diets fail in the long runin the long run: over a long period of time; eventually — 从长远来看, and it often leadslead: to cause or encourage someone to do something; to result in a particular outcome — 导致 to weight regainweight regain: the return of body weight that has been lost — 体重反弹.

Lena's own story shows this pattern very clearly. A doctor at Yale enrolledenrol: To officially register or sign up as a member or participant — 注册；登记入学；招收 her in a clinicalclinical: Relating to the observation and treatment of patients; coldly efficient and detached, without warmth or emotion. — 临床的；冷静客观的；冷淡的 trialtrial: An opportunity to test something out; a test — 试验clinical trial: a research study where new drugs are tested on volunteer patients — 临床试验 of one of the new obesity drugs, and almost overnightovernight: During or for the night; suddenly or very quickly. — 一夜之间；突然 the food noise stopped. When the trial ended, however, the noise returned with full forceforce: Physical power or strength, or a group of people organised for a particular purpose. — 力量；武力 and she gained forty pounds back. Her doctor then prescribedprescribe: to recommend and authorise the use of a medicine or treatment, or to lay down a rule — 开处方；规定 a different drug that was already approvedapprove: To officially agree to or accept something as satisfactory. — 批准；赞成, and the voices in her head went silentsilent: making no sound; completely quiet — 安静的；沉默的 again.

Scientists now believe the new drugs resetreset: To set back to the initial state — 重置 the set point to a lower level. People can still feel hungry, but the constant inner talk about food disappears. This suggests, in turn, that obesity may be a brain condition rather than a simple failurefailure: Lack of success; a person or thing that is unsuccessful. — 失败；故障 of willpowerwillpower: The unwavering strength of will to carry out one's wishes — 意志力.

There is one important catch, however. The drugs only work while you keep taking them. If a person stops, the old set point comes back, and so does the food noise. Researchers still want to know exactly how the drugs change the set point, because that answer may finally help us understand what causes obesity in the first place.