Frontostriatal and behavioral adaptations to daily sugar-sweetened beverage intake: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Background: Current obesity theories suggest that the repeated intake of highly palatable high-sugar foods causes adaptions in the striatum, parietal lobe, and prefrontal and visual cortices in the brain that may serve to perpetuate consumption in a feedforward manner. However, the data for humans are cross-sectional and observational, leaving little ability to determine the temporal precedence of repeated consumption on brain response. Objective: We tested the impact of regular sugar-sweetened beverage intake on brain and behavioral responses to beverage stimuli. Design: We performed an experiment with 20 healthy-weight individuals who were randomly assigned to consume 1 of 2 sugarsweetened beverages daily for 21 d, underwent 2 functional MRI sessions, and completed behavioral and explicit hedonic assessments. Results: Consistent with preclinical experiments, daily beverage consumption resulted in decreases in dorsal striatal response during receipt of the consumed beverage (r = 20.46) and decreased ventromedial prefrontal response during logo-elicited anticipation (r = 20.44). This decrease in the prefrontal response correlated with increases in behavioral disinhibition toward the logo of the consumed beverage (r = 0.54; P = 0.02). Daily beverage consumption also increased precuneus response to both juice logos compared with a tasteless control (r = 0.45), suggesting a more generalized effect toward beverage cues. Last, the repeated consumption of 1 beverage resulted in an explicit hedonic devaluation of a similar nonconsumed beverage (P , 0.001). Conclusions: Analogous to previous reports, these initial results provide convergent data for a role of regular sugar-sweetened beverage intake in altering neurobehavioral responses to the regularly consumed beverage that may also extend to other beverage stimuli. Future research is required to provide evidence of replication in a larger sample and to establish whether the neurobehavioral adaptations observed herein are specific to high-sugar and/or nonnutritive-sweetened beverages or more generally related to the repeated consumption of any type of food. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02624206.

Validation of the Spanish Version of the Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 (YFAS 2.0) and Clinical Correlates in a Sample of Eating Disorder, Gambling Disorder, and Healthy Control Participants

“…Similar to drugs of abuse, the intake of macronutrient-rich foods may increase extracelluar dopamine in neural regions implicated in reward and motivation, thereby increasing the likelihood of reward-driven eating in the absence of homeostatic need ( 12 – 15 ). Likewise, there is evidence that repeated exposure to sugar-sweetened beverages can lead to frontostriatal adaptations and behavioral disinhibition ( 16 ). Patients with substance use disorders and behavioral addictions also report symptoms that are also often found in the context of eating disorders (EDs) or in individuals with excess weight.…”

An Exploration of the Role of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage in Promoting Obesity and Health Disparities

“…Some studies have shown that the increases in the brain reward region responses to food cues are paralleled with decreased responses in the prefrontal regions of the brain that are involved with inhibitory and executive decision [ 73 , 74 ••, 75 ]. These decreased inhibitory responses are likely associated with less motivation to devalue the pleasure of eating highly palatable food, even when faced with the prospect of unwanted weight gain.…”

“…In the only dietary intervention study to assess brain responses before and after 3 weeks of sustained consumption of SSB, all the responses that have been shown to be predictive of body weight gain were observed [ 74 ••]. Reward responses to the taste of the SSB were decreased after the intervention.…”

Differences in brain structure and function in children with the FTO obesity‐risk allele

“…Given prior reports of interactions between FTO genotype and temperament in predicting brain activity, 14 studies should also include assessments of child temperament, particularly reward sensitivity and inhibitory control. In order to disambiguate effects on the cerebellum of FTO risk allele from those of BMI per se, weight gain and diet, 15,55 future studies should use repeated measures prospective study designs to examine cerebellar structure and function, recruiting children prior to the onset of obesity and following them over time as weight gain progresses.…”