The brain is the conductor: diet-induced inflammation overlapping physiological control of body mass and metabolism

Abstract

Obesity is currently a worldwide pandemic. It affects more than 300 million humans and it will probably increase over the next 20 years. The consumption of calorie-rich foods is responsible for most of the obesity cases, but not all humans exposed to high-calorie diets develop the disease. This fact has prompted researchers to investigate the mechanisms linking the consumption of high-calorie diets to the generation of an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure. According to recent studies, the exposure to fat-rich diets induces an inflammatory response in the hypothalamic areas involved in the control of feeding and thermogenesis. The inflammatory process damages the neuronal circuitries that maintain the homeostatic control of the body's energy stores, therefore favoring body mass gain. This review will focus on the main advances obtained in this field.