Han Pengfei, Chen Hong, Hummel Thomas
The Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China.
Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2020 Oct 8;14:574148. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.574148. eCollection 2020.
The understanding of food cue associated neural activations that predict future weight variability may guide the design of effective prevention programs and treatments for overeating and obesity. The current study investigated the association between brain response to different food odors with varied energy density and individual changes of body mass index (BMI) over 2 years. Twenty-five participants received high-fat (chocolate and peanut), low-fat (bread and peach) food odors, and a nonfood odor (rose) while the brain activation was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). BMIs were calculated with participant's self-reported body weight and height collected at the time of the fMRI scan and again at 2 years later. Regression analyses revealed significant negative correlations between BMI increase over 2 years and brain activation of the bilateral precuneus and the right posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) in response to high-fat vs. low-fat food odors. Also, brain activation of the right supplementary motor area (SMA) in response to food vs. non-food odor was negatively correlated to subsequent BMI increase over 2 years. Taken together, the current findings suggest that individual differences in neural responsivity to (high calorie) food odors in brain regions of the default mode and motor control network serve as a neural marker for future BMI change.
了解与食物线索相关的神经激活情况,这些激活能够预测未来体重的变化,这可能会为暴饮暴食和肥胖症的有效预防方案及治疗方法的设计提供指导。当前的研究调查了大脑对不同能量密度的食物气味的反应与个体在两年内体重指数(BMI)变化之间的关联。25名参与者分别闻了高脂肪(巧克力和花生)、低脂肪(面包和桃子)食物的气味以及一种非食物气味(玫瑰),同时使用功能磁共振成像(fMRI)测量大脑激活情况。BMI是根据fMRI扫描时参与者自我报告的体重和身高计算得出的,两年后再次测量。回归分析显示,在两年内BMI的增加与双侧楔前叶和右侧后扣带回皮质(PCC)对高脂肪与低脂肪食物气味的大脑激活之间存在显著的负相关。此外,右侧辅助运动区(SMA)对食物与非食物气味的大脑激活与随后两年内BMI的增加呈负相关。综上所述,当前的研究结果表明,在默认模式和运动控制网络的大脑区域中,对(高热量)食物气味的神经反应性的个体差异可作为未来BMI变化的神经标志物。