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.

Int J Obes (Lond). 2016 Dec 26;:

Authors: Farr OM, Mantzoros CS

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 the reward-related central nervous system areas among the obese is more pronounced in subjects with prediabetes and MetS. Prospective studies are needed to quantify its contributions to the development of prediabetes/MetS and to study whether it may predispose to the exacerbation of obesity and the development of comorbidities over time.International Journal of Obesity accepted article preview online, 26 December 2016. doi:10.1038/ijo.2016.231.

PMID: 28017966 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]