Obese individuals with more components of the metabolic syndrome and/or prediabetes demonstrate decreased activation of reward-related brain centers in response to food cues in both the fed and fasting states: a preliminary fMRI study

Abstract

It remains unknown whether obese individuals with more components of the metabolic syndrome and/or prediabetes demonstrate altered activation of brain centers in response to food cues. We examined obese prediabetics (n=26) vs. obese nondiabetics (n=11) using fMRI. We also performed regression analyses on the basis of the number of MetS components per subject. Obese individuals with prediabetes have decreased activation of the reward-related putamen in the fasting state and decreased activation of the salience- and reward-related insula after eating. Obese individuals with more components of MetS demonstrate decreased activation of the putamen while fasting. All these activations remain significant when corrected for BMI, waist circumference (WC), HbA1c and gender. Decreased activation in reward-related brain areas between obese individuals is more pronounced in subjects with prediabetes and MetS. Prospective studies are needed to quantify their contributions to the development of prediabetes/MetS and to study whether these conditions may predispose to the exacerbation of obesity and the development of comorbidities over time.

Longer‐term liraglutide administration at the highest dose approved for obesity increases reward‐related orbitofrontal cortex activation in response to food cues: Implications for plateauing weight loss in response to anti‐obesity therapies

“…Each block was presented in a counterbalanced order and interspersed with periods of visual fixation. As previously described, food desirability was confirmed in a previous study and visual appearance of food images was matched for visual properties …”

“…Participants viewed food and non‐food cues within a 3‐Tesla GE MR750 scanner at BIDMC while fasting, using a GE 32‐channel head array coil with a protocol similar to our previous publications . First, a T1‐weighted Magnetization Prepared Rapid Gradient Echo (MPRAGE) structural MR image was acquired.…”

“…Participants viewed food and non-food cues within a 3-Tesla GE MR750 scanner at BIDMC while fasting, using a GE 32-channel head array coil with a protocol similar to our previous publications. 11,[14][15][16][17][18] Figure S1). Weight, BMI, waist circumference and fasting glucose were decreased and cholesterol levels improved while using liraglutide (Table 1).…”

GEOFFREY HARRIS PRIZE LECTURE 2018: Novel pathways regulating neuroendocrine function, energy homeostasis and metabolism in humans

“…Larger portions of low-nutrient, high-caloric, palatable food consumed at irregular meal patterns by sedentary individuals are all factors promoting obesity (123). With the use of functional MRI (fMRI), internal factors including post-prandial decreased activation in rewardrelated putamen and salience-and reward-related insula in fasting subjects with obesity and prediabetes are hypothesized to underle caloric intake, which leads to these cnditioms (124). Altogether, these environmental and central mechanisms in combination with genetic, epigenetic and other mechanisms create a complex disease in need of effective therapies.…”

Impact of Intensive Lifestyle Intervention on Neural Food Cue Reactivity: Action for Health in Diabetes Brain Ancillary Study

“…One study comparing BMI‐matched individuals with and without type 2 diabetes found that those with diabetes had relatively greater responsivity in emotion‐ and reward‐processing regions . Another more recent study observed relatively decreased reward‐processing activity for individuals with more components of metabolic syndrome and/or prediabetes . The same group found that, among individuals with diabetes, those with obesity demonstrated less activation in salience and reward‐related regions when fasted .…”