Winter Samantha R, Yokum Sonja, Stice Eric, Osipowicz Karol, Lowe Michael R
Department of Psychology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA; and
Oregon Research Institute, Eugene, OR.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2017 Apr;105(4):781-789. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.116.141143. Epub 2017 Feb 22.
Both an elevated brain-reward-region response to palatable food and elevated weight variability have been shown to predict future weight gain. We examined whether the brain-reward response to food is related to future weight variability. A total of 162 healthy-weight adolescents, who were aged 14-18 y at baseline, were enrolled in the study and were assessed annually over a 3-y follow-up period with 127 participants completing the final 3-y follow-up assessment. With the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging, we tested whether the neural responses to a cue that signaled an impending milkshake receipt and the receipt of the milkshake predicted weight variability over the follow-up period. Weight variability was modeled with a root mean squared error method to reflect fluctuations in weight independent of the net weight change. Elevated activation in the medial prefrontal cortex and supplementary motor area, cingulate gyrus, cuneus and occipital gyrus, and insula in response to milkshake receipt predicted greater weight variability. Greater activation in the precuneus and middle temporal gyrus predicted lower weight variability. From our study data, we suggest that the elevated activation of reward and emotional-regulation brain regions (medial prefrontal cortex, cingulate cortex, and insula) and lower activation in self-reference regions (precuneus) in response to milkshake receipt predict weight variability over 3 y of follow-up. The fact that the reward response in the current study emerged in response to high-calorie palatable food receipt suggests that weight variability may be a measure of propensity periods of a positive energy balance and should be examined in addition to measures of the net weight change. With our collective results, we suggest that weight variability and its brain correlates should be added to other variables that are predictive of weight gain to inform the design of obesity-preventive programs in adolescents. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01807572.
大脑奖赏区域对美味食物的反应增强以及体重变异性增加，均已被证明可预测未来体重增加。我们研究了大脑对食物的奖赏反应是否与未来体重变异性有关。共有162名基线时体重正常的青少年参与了本研究，他们的年龄在14至18岁之间，在3年的随访期内每年进行评估，最终有127名参与者完成了3年的随访评估。我们使用功能磁共振成像技术，测试了对预示即将收到奶昔的提示以及收到奶昔时的神经反应是否能预测随访期内的体重变异性。体重变异性采用均方根误差法建模，以反映独立于净重变化的体重波动情况。对收到奶昔的反应中，内侧前额叶皮质、辅助运动区、扣带回、楔叶和枕叶以及脑岛的激活增强预示着更大的体重变异性。楔前叶和颞中回的激活增强预示着较低的体重变异性。根据我们的研究数据，我们认为，对收到奶昔的反应中，奖赏和情绪调节脑区（内侧前额叶皮质、扣带回皮质和脑岛）的激活增强以及自我参照区域（楔前叶）的激活减弱可预测3年随访期内的体重变异性。本研究中奖赏反应是对高热量美味食物摄入的反应这一事实表明，体重变异性可能是正能量平衡倾向期的一个指标，除了净重变化的指标外，还应进行检查。综合我们的研究结果，我们建议应将体重变异性及其大脑相关性添加到其他可预测体重增加的变量中，以为青少年肥胖预防项目的设计提供参考。该试验已在clinicaltrials.gov上注册，注册号为NCT01807572。
