Relation of reward from food intake and anticipated food intake to obesity: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

E Stice, S Spoor, C Bohon, MG Veldhuizen… - Journal of abnormal …, 2008 - psycnet.apa.org
Journal of abnormal psychology, 2008psycnet.apa.org
The authors tested the hypothesis that obese individuals experience greater reward from
food consumption (consummatory food reward) and anticipated consumption (anticipatory
food reward) than lean individuals using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with
33 adolescent girls (mean age= 15.7, SD= 0.9). Obese relative to lean adolescent girls
showed greater activation bilaterally in the gustatory cortex (anterior and mid insula, frontal
operculum) and in somatosensory regions (parietal operculum and Rolandic operculum) in …
Abstract
The authors tested the hypothesis that obese individuals experience greater reward from food consumption (consummatory food reward) and anticipated consumption (anticipatory food reward) than lean individuals using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with 33 adolescent girls (mean age= 15.7, SD= 0.9). Obese relative to lean adolescent girls showed greater activation bilaterally in the gustatory cortex (anterior and mid insula, frontal operculum) and in somatosensory regions (parietal operculum and Rolandic operculum) in response to anticipated intake of chocolate milkshake (vs. a tasteless solution) and to actual consumption of milkshake (vs. a tasteless solution); these brain regions encode the sensory and hedonic aspects of food. However, obese relative to lean adolescent girls also showed decreased activation in the caudate nucleus in response to consumption of milkshake versus a tasteless solution, potentially because they have reduced dopamine receptor availability. Results suggest that individuals who show greater activation in the gustatory cortex and somatosensory regions in response to anticipation and consumption of food, but who show weaker activation in the striatum during food intake, may be at risk for overeating and consequent weight gain.(PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
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