Health and Medicine
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In 1993, a 42-year-old man in Spain suddenly developed a burning passion for fine food. The interest seemingly exploded out of nowhere. He ditched his hobby of marathon running and dedicated his life to traveling Europe in search of the best restaurants money could buy, gaining over 50 kilograms (110 pounds) along the way. His experienced palate eventually earned him a career as an esteemed food critic for prestigious newspapers and guides. However, unbeknownst to him, his life as a fanatical foodie was actually the direct result of a brain tumor.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.This strange situation only came to light in 1997 when some unusual symptoms prompted the man to seek medical attention, according to a medical case report. At the age of 46, he experienced a potent hallucination where he vividly smelt the cooking of his mother. The phantom smell lasted two minutes, shifting from pleasant to an acrid "chemical" odor. When the hallucination recurred for a third time, he consulted a neurologist.
The doctors carried out an MRI scan of the patient’s brain, revealing the presence of a fibroblastic meningioma (a slow-growing brain tumor) pressing on the right temporal lobe. The tumor was successfully extracted in a 14-hour surgery. Several years later, follow-up surgery was performed to removed some residual tissue, but this time its removal brought up an unusual side-effect: the man had lost all interest in gastronomy. He tried visiting several famous restaurants, yet found their offerings to be deeply uninspiring and boring.
Doctors find a likely culprit: “gourmand syndrome"
Coincidentally, 1997 was the year when another team of doctors in Switzerland described a new phenomenon, dubbed “gourmand syndrome.” They had collected data about patients who suddenly developed an extreme preoccupation with food or an obsessional preference for fine dining. Out of 36 patients, 34 had some kind of lesion in the right anterior part of the brain,
In one of the cases, a 55-year-old businessman developed gourmand syndrome after a stroke in the brain’s right hemisphere. When asked to document the experience of his recovery, all he could write about was food: “after I could stand on my feet again, I dreamt to go downtown and sit down in this well-known restaurant. There I would get a beer, sausage, and potatoes [...] The same day after discharge, my first trip brought me to this restaurant, and here I was ordering potato salad, sausage, and a beer. I feel wonderful.”
“A few steps down the street, we enter a coffeehouse. My hand is reaching for pastry, my wife’s hand reaches between. Through the window I see my bank, damn, if I chose, I could buy all the pastry I wanted, including the whole store. The creamy pastry slips from the foil, like a mermaid. I take a bite,” he added.
What causes gourmand syndrome?
It’s well documented that lesions located in the brain’s right anterior region can provoke strong behavioral changes, plus there is some evidence that has linked other eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, with the right hemisphere of the brain.
In regard to gourmand syndrome, one possible explanation lies in the gustatory cortex, the brain region responsible for processing taste. Because there's some evidence the region is lateralized, with more activation observed in the right hemisphere, a lesion in this specific area may meddle with people’s appreciation for flavor.
Another idea is that damage to the right hemisphere disrupts the brain’s impulse control and reward systems, specifically the connection between the basal ganglia and the cortex. This "neurological glitch" shifts the patient's value system, causing the brain to chase the sensory pleasure of fine flavors over all other motivations.
However, it’s not entirely clear why the object of obsession so often became fine dining, not other sensory pleasures like sex, drugs, or gambling.
