Center for the Study of Nutrition Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Obes Rev. 2011 Oct;12(10):800-12. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-789X.2011.00893.x. Epub 2011 Jun 16.
As obesity rates increase worldwide, healthcare providers require methods to instill the lifestyle behaviours necessary for sustainable weight loss. Designing effective weight-loss interventions requires an understanding of how these behaviours are elicited, how they relate to each other and whether they are supported by common neurocognitive mechanisms. This may provide valuable insights to optimize existing interventions and develop novel approaches to weight control. Researchers have begun to investigate the neurocognitive underpinnings of eating behaviour and the impact of physical activity on cognition and the brain. This review attempts to bring these somewhat disparate, yet interrelated lines of literature together in order to examine a hypothesis that eating behaviour and physical activity share a common neurocognitive link. The link pertains to executive functions, which rely on brain circuits located in the prefrontal cortex. These advanced cognitive processes are of limited capacity and undergo relentless strain in the current obesogenic environment. The increased demand on these neurocognitive resources as well as their overuse and/or impairment may facilitate impulses to over-eat, contributing to weight gain and obesity. This impulsive eating drive may be counteracted by physical activity due to its enhancement of neurocognitive resources for executive functions and goal-oriented behaviour. By enhancing the resources that facilitate 'top-down' inhibitory control, increased physical activity may help compensate and suppress the hedonic drive to over-eat. Understanding how physical activity and eating behaviours interact on a neurocognitive level may help to maintain a healthy lifestyle in an obesogenic environment.
随着全球肥胖率的上升，医疗保健提供者需要找到方法来灌输可持续减肥所需的生活方式行为。设计有效的减肥干预措施需要了解这些行为是如何产生的，它们彼此之间的关系，以及它们是否得到共同的神经认知机制的支持。这可能为优化现有干预措施和开发新的体重控制方法提供有价值的见解。研究人员已经开始研究饮食行为的神经认知基础，以及身体活动对认知和大脑的影响。本综述试图将这些有些不同但相互关联的文献结合起来，以检验一个假设，即饮食行为和身体活动共享一个共同的神经认知联系。这种联系涉及到执行功能，执行功能依赖于位于前额叶皮层的大脑回路。这些高级认知过程的容量有限，在当前的肥胖环境中承受着无情的压力。这些神经认知资源的需求增加，以及它们的过度使用和/或损伤，可能会促使人们过度进食，导致体重增加和肥胖。由于身体活动增强了执行功能和目标导向行为的神经认知资源，这种冲动性的进食动力可能会被身体活动抵消。通过增强促进“自上而下”抑制控制的资源，增加身体活动可能有助于补偿和抑制过度进食的享乐驱动。了解身体活动和饮食行为如何在神经认知层面上相互作用，可能有助于在肥胖环境中保持健康的生活方式。
