Department of Psychology, Universidad de Jaén, Jaén, Spain.
Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center-CIMCYC, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.
Appetite. 2018 Dec 1;131:7-13. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2018.08.031. Epub 2018 Aug 27.
We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess brain regions associated with food choices between appetizing (i.e., high sugar, high fat) and plain food in adolescents with excess weight and those with normal weight. The associations between choice-evoked brain activation and subjective food craving and behavioral food choices were also evaluated.
Seventy-three adolescents (aged 14-19 years), classified into excess weight (n = 38) or normal weight (n = 39) groups, participated in the study. We used a food-choice fMRI task, between appetizing and plain food, to analyse brain activation differences between groups. Afterwards, participants assessed their "craving" for each food presented in the scanner.
Adolescents with excess weight showed higher brain activation in frontal, striatal, insular and mid-temporal regions during choices between appetizing and standard food cues. This pattern of activations correlated with behavioral food choices and subjective measures of craving.
Our findings suggest that adolescents with excess weight have greater food choice-related brain reactivity in reward-related regions involved in motivational and emotional responses to food. Increased activation in these regions is generally associated with craving, and increased dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is specifically associated with appetizing food choices among adolescents with excess weight, which may suggest greater conflict in these decisions. These overweight- and craving-associated patterns of brain activation may be relevant to decision-making about food consumption.
我们使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）来评估超重和正常体重青少年在选择美味（即高糖、高脂肪）和普通食物时与食物选择相关的大脑区域。还评估了选择引起的大脑激活与主观食物渴望和行为食物选择之间的关联。
73 名青少年（年龄 14-19 岁）分为超重组（n=38）和正常体重组（n=39），参与了这项研究。我们使用食物选择 fMRI 任务来分析两组之间大脑激活的差异。之后，参与者评估了他们在扫描仪中呈现的每种食物的“渴望”。
超重青少年在选择美味和标准食物线索时，额叶、纹状体、脑岛和中颞叶区域的大脑激活较高。这种激活模式与行为食物选择和渴望的主观测量相关。
我们的研究结果表明，超重青少年在与奖励相关的大脑区域中，与食物的动机和情绪反应相关的食物选择具有更高的大脑反应性。这些区域的激活增加通常与渴望有关，而背外侧前额叶皮层的增加与超重青少年对美味食物的选择特别相关，这可能表明这些决策中存在更大的冲突。这些与超重和渴望相关的大脑激活模式可能与食物消费的决策有关。
