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Eating habits, body fat could be influenced by brain chemistry
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Dopamine neurocircuitry variations seen in people with obesity could boost their susceptibility to opportunistic overeating and make food intake less rewarding and goal-directed but more habitual, according to research published in Molecular Psychiatry.
“While we cannot say whether obesity is a cause or an effect of these patterns of dopamine activity, eating based on unconscious habits rather than conscious choices could make it harder to achieve and maintain a healthy weight, especially when appetizing food cues are practically everywhere,” Kevin D. Hall, PhD, of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the NIH, said in a press release.
Juen Guo, PhD, also of the NIDDK, along with Hall and colleagues, looked at 43 adults (22 men) with varying BMI ranges who were nonsmokers. Screenings excluded people with diabetes, recent weight change, past or present history of drug abuse or neurologic or psychiatric disorders, including eating disorders.
Participants adhered to the same eating, sleeping and activity schedule. A detailed questionnaire was given to determine tendency to overeat in response to triggers in the environment. The researchers measured striatal dopamine D2-like receptor binding potential (D2BP) using PET with the high-affinity antagonist fallypride.
In the dorsal and lateral striatum, opportunistic eating behavior and BMI were both positively associated with D2BP. Conversely, in the ventromedial striatum, BMI was negatively associated with D2BP.
“It is important to emphasize that a direct linkage of these psychological processes to eating behavior and obesity has not been demonstrated in this study,” the researchers wrote. “These striatal regions likely support additional processes outside habit formation, reward and motivation.”
Future research will examine dopamine activity and eating behavior with changes to diet, physical activity and weight, according to the release
Disclosure: This research was partly supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, NIDDK and National Institute of Mental Health. One researcher was partly supported by an NIMH grant.
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