Neural processing of food cues in pre‐pubertal children

Luo, Shijun; Hardy, Kristina K.; Wang, X.; Monterosso, John; Xiang, Anny H.; Page, Kathleen A.

doi:10.1111/ijpo.12435

Cited by 25 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…A recent meta-analysis on functional neuroimaging studies involving tasks that probe different aspects of dietary self-control reported that the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and middle frontal gyrus (MFG) were among the regions that showed reduced activation during self-control as a function of body mass index (BMI) in healthy adults (Han et al, 2018 ). Similar negative relationships have been observed in studies of healthy children and adolescents (Batterink et al, 2010 ; Bruce et al, 2013 ; Carnell et al, 2017 ; Jensen et al, 2017 ; Luo et al, 2019 ). There have been inconsistent findings regarding relationships between PFC cortical thickness and BMI in children, although recent large-scale studies have shown an inverse correlation between BMI and cortical thickness, with the greatest correlation observed in the PFC (Laurent et al, 2020 ; Ronan et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 75%

“…Many genes associated with obesity are preferentially expressed in the central nervous system (Locke et al, 2015 ), suggesting that the brain plays an important role in the regulation of energy intake and expenditure. Functional neuroimaging studies in children and adolescents indicate that obesity may involve dysregulation of two key neural systems: (1) hypo-functioning of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) involved in inhibitory control of appetitive food rewards (Batterink et al, 2010 ; Bruce et al, 2013 ; Carnell et al, 2017 ; Jensen et al, 2017 ; Luo et al, 2019 ); and (2) hyper-reactivity of the limbic system involved in reward and emotion processing of external food cues (Boutelle et al, 2015 ; Rapuano et al, 2016 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Prefrontal Cortex and Amygdala Subregion Morphology Are Associated With Obesity and Dietary Self-control in Children and Adolescents

Kim

Luo

Azad

et al. 2020

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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A prefrontal control system that is less mature than the limbic reward system in adolescence is thought to impede self-regulatory abilities, which could contribute to poor dietary choices and obesity. We, therefore, aimed to examine whether structural morphology of the prefrontal cortex (PFC; involved in cognitive control) and the amygdala (a key brain region for reward-related processing) are associated with dietary decisions and obesity in children and adolescents. Seventy-one individuals between the ages of 8–22 years (17.35 ± 4.76 years, 51% female, 56% were overweight or obese) participated in this study; each participant completed a computer-based food choice task and a T1- and T2-weighted structural brain scans. Two indices of obesity were assessed, including age- and sex-specific body mass index (BMIz) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). The behavioral task included rating 60 food stimuli for tastiness, healthiness, and liking. Based on each participant’s self-ratings, 100 binary food choices were then made utilizing a computer mouse. Dietary “self-control” was calculated as the proportion of trials where the individual chose the healthier food item (vs. the tastier food item) over the total number of trials. Cortical thickness and amygdala subnuclei volumes were quantified using FreeSurfer 6.0 and CIT168 atlas, respectively. We found that WHtR was negatively associated with the thickness of bilateral superior frontal, left superior temporal, right insula, and right inferior temporal regions (p < 0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons). We also found WHtR to be positively associated with the volume of the central nucleus (CEN) region of the amygdala (p = 0.006), after adjusting for the hemisphere, age, sex, and intracranial volumes. A similar data pattern was observed when BMIz was used. Moreover, we found that across all participants, thinner right superior frontal cortex and larger left CEN volumes predicted lower dietary self-control. These results suggest that differential development of the PFC and amygdala relate to obesity and dietary self-control. Further longitudinal studies are merited to determine causal relationships among altered PFC to amygdala neural circuitry, dietary self-control, and obesity.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 75%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prefrontal Cortex and Amygdala Subregion Morphology Are Associated With Obesity and Dietary Self-control in Children and Adolescents

Kim

Luo

Azad

et al. 2020

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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“…To date, only one study has reported sex differences in children, although the findings contradict those from adults. Luo and colleagues [113] found that, compared to females, 7–11-year-old males had greater activation to food relative to non-food images in the right posterior hippocampus and temporal occipital fusiform cortex, regions implicated in memory and visual processing. To date, the developmental trajectory of neural response to food cues remains unclear, making it difficult to interpret the inconsistent patterns of sex differences between adult and child samples.…”

Section: Biopsychosocial Contributions To Sex Differencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a separate dataset of 7–11-year-old children who had participated in a study on the neural determinants of food portion size and energy density [108,142], we followed up findings from Luo and colleagues [113] to investigate potential sex differences in children’s food cue reactivity. As with the first case study, child weight status was treated as a key moderating factor.…”

Section: Applying the Biopsychosocial Model To Interpret Evidence mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Biopsychosocial Model of Sex Differences in Children’s Eating Behaviors

et al. 2019

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The prevalence of obesity and eating disorders varies by sex, but the extent to which sex influences eating behaviors, especially in childhood, has received less attention. The purpose of this paper is to critically discuss the literature on sex differences in eating behavior in children and present new findings supporting the role of sex in child appetitive traits and neural responses to food cues. In children, the literature shows sex differences in food acceptance, food intake, appetitive traits, eating-related compensation, and eating speed. New analyses demonstrate that sex interacts with child weight status to differentially influence appetitive traits. Further, results from neuroimaging suggest that obesity in female children is positively related to neural reactivity to higher-energy-dense food cues in regions involved with contextual processing and object recognition, while the opposite was found in males. In addition to differences in how the brain processes information about food, other factors that may contribute to sex differences include parental feeding practices, societal emphasis on dieting, and peer influences. Future studies are needed to confirm these findings, as they may have implications for the development of effective intervention programs to improve dietary behaviors and prevent obesity.

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“…To date, only one study has reported sex differences in children, although the findings contradicted those from adults. Luo and colleagues112 found that compared to females, 7-11 year-old males had greater activation to food relative to non-food images in the right posterior hippocampus and temporal occipital fusiform cortex, regions implicated in memory and visual processing. To date, the developmental trajectory of neural response to food cues remains unclear, making it difficult to interpret the inconsistent patterns of sex differences between adult and child samples.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Biopsychosocial Model of Sex Differences in Children’s Eating Behaviors

Keller¹,

Kling²,

Fuchs³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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The prevalence of obesity and eating disorders varies by sex, but the extent to which sex influences eating behaviors, especially in childhood, has received less attention. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on sex differences in eating behavior in children and present new findings supporting the role of sex in child appetitive traits and neural responses to food cues. In children, the literature shows sex differences in basic taste response, food acceptance, eating self-regulation, and appetitive traits. New analyses demonstrate that sex interacts with child weight status to differentially influence appetitive traits and neural responses to food cues. Further, neuroimaging results suggest that obesity in female children is positively related to brain reactivity to higher-energy-dense food cues in regions involved with learning, memory, and object recognition, while the opposite was found in males. In addition to differences in how the brain processes information about food, other factors that may contribute to sex differences include parental feeding practices, societal emphasis on dieting, and peer influences. Future studies are needed to confirm these findings, as they may have implications for the development of effective intervention programs to improve dietary behaviors and prevent obesity.

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Neural processing of food cues in pre‐pubertal children

Abstract: These data suggest that body fat and sex are important moderators of brain food cue reactivity in children.

Cited by 25 publications

References 37 publications

Prefrontal Cortex and Amygdala Subregion Morphology Are Associated With Obesity and Dietary Self-control in Children and Adolescents

Prefrontal Cortex and Amygdala Subregion Morphology Are Associated With Obesity and Dietary Self-control in Children and Adolescents

A Biopsychosocial Model of Sex Differences in Children’s Eating Behaviors

A Biopsychosocial Model of Sex Differences in Children’s Eating Behaviors

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Neural processing of food cues in pre‐pubertal children

Abstract: These data suggest that body fat and sex are important moderators of brain food cue reactivity in children.

Cited by 25 publications

References 37 publications

Prefrontal Cortex and Amygdala Subregion Morphology Are Associated With Obesity and Dietary Self-control in Children and Adolescents

Prefrontal Cortex and Amygdala Subregion Morphology Are Associated With Obesity and Dietary Self-control in Children and Adolescents

A Biopsychosocial Model of Sex Differences in Children’s Eating Behaviors

A Biopsychosocial Model of Sex Differences in Children&rsquo;s Eating Behaviors

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A Biopsychosocial Model of Sex Differences in Children’s Eating Behaviors