Overeating can make your brain go haywire, prompting a cascade of damage that may cause diabetes, heart disease and other ills.

Eating too much activates a normally dormant immune system pathway in your brain, which sends out immune cells to attack and destroy invaders that are not there. This finding could help explain why obesity causes so many different diseases.

Studies that have shown that obesity causes chronic inflammation throughout the body. This inflammation is found in a range of diseases related to obesity, including heart disease and diabetes.