A new study has revealed that the brain can control eating behavior, and considering the long-term consequences of your food choices may help control food cravings.

Two research studies have showed that the way one thinks about food can have an impact on appetite, and many others on the relationship between the brain and eating behavior.

Kathryn Demos, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Miriam Hospital at Brown University and her colleagues used functional MRI scans to watch participants brains as they reviewed pictures of enticing foods, like pizza, French fries and ice cream.

Through the scans, the researchers were able to evaluate different strategies to reduce the desire to eat and found that thinking about the long-term negative impact of eating these foods may be an effective way to reduce appetite.

Through the MRI scans, the researchers identified that thinking about the long-term negative impact of eating unhealthy foods increased activity in a region of the brain involved in inhibitory control and self-regulation.

The results also showed the promising possibility that focusing on the long-term consequences of consuming unhealthy foods could help diminish cravings and, as a result, potentially enhance weight-loss efforts.