Neuropod cells in the gut respond to sugars, amino acids, and essential fatty acids, and communicate this information to the brain by firing electrical potentials, which can trigger dopamine release.

“Well, it turns out that neuropod cells also respond to amino acids and to fatty acids, in particular, essential fatty acids. So these cells that we call neuropod cells, have three jobs. One is to levels of sugar in the gut, the other is to detect levels of amino acids, and to detect levels of particular essential fatty acids, and communicate that information to the brain. [...] all three or any of those three, sugar, essential fatty acids, or amino acids, will trigger these neurons to signal to the brain to increase dopamine.”