How images of food become cravingly salient in obesity.
Obesity (Silver Spring)
; 31(9): 2294-2303, 2023 09.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37605635
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
This case-control study was aimed at testing two main hypotheses (i) obesity is characterized by neurofunctional alterations within the mesocorticolimbic reward system, a brain network originating from the midbrain ventral tegmental area (VTA); and (ii) these alterations are associated with a bias for food-related stimuli and craving.METHODS:
Normal-weight individuals and individuals with obesity underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan and the assessment of impulsivity, food craving, appetite, and implicit bias for food and non-food stimuli. The VTA was used as a seed to map, for each participant, the strength of its functional connections with the rest of the brain. The between-group difference in functional connectivity was then computed, and brain-behavior correlations were performed.RESULTS:
Individuals with obesity showed hyper-connectivity of the VTA with part of the ventral occipitotemporal cortex, recently found to be specialized for food images, and hypo-connectivity with the left inferior frontal gyrus, devoted to cognitive control. VTA-ventral occipitotemporal cortex connectivity was positively associated with food craving and food-related bias; the reverse correlation was observed for VTA-inferior frontal gyrus connectivity.CONCLUSIONS:
These findings reveal that, in obesity, food-related visual stimuli become cravingly salient through an imbalanced connectivity of the reward system with sensory-specific regions and the frontal cortex involved in cognitive control.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Encéfalo
/
Alimentos
Tipo de estudio:
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Límite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Obesity (Silver Spring)
Asunto de la revista:
CIENCIAS DA NUTRICAO
/
FISIOLOGIA
/
METABOLISMO
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Italia