Bile acids — or gut compounds that aid in the digestion of dietary fats — reduce the desire for cocaine, according to a new study. This suggests that targeting bile acid signalling in the brain may be a novel way to treat cocaine abuse. The researchers in the U.S. have for long studied the metabolic changes associated with bariatric surgery for weight loss. Surgical patients are known to experience dramatic changes in glucose regulation, and also in taste preferences and food cravings while they are still in the recovery room. The most commonly performed bariatric surgery (Roux-en-Y gastric bypass) restricts the size of the stomach and alters the path of food through the digestive tract. It also changes the point where bile acids enter the small intestine, from the usual upper part of the small intestine to a site near the end. The change increases circulating levels of bile acids in the body. The findings have been published in the journal PLOS Biology .
