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. 2014 Aug;22(8):1814-20.
doi: 10.1002/oby.20759. Epub 2014 Apr 8.

Greater emotional eating scores associated with reduced frontolimbic activation to palatable taste in adolescents

Cara Bohon  1
Affiliations

Greater emotional eating scores associated with reduced frontolimbic activation to palatable taste in adolescents

Cara Bohon. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2014 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: This study examined the relation between self-reported emotional eating scores and frontolimbic brain response to palatable taste in adolescents.

Methods: Participants included 162 adolescents (mean BMI percentile = 52.7, range 3-90). Participants completed a self-report survey assessing emotional eating and underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while viewing pictures signaling subsequent delivery of a chocolate milkshake or a control taste and receiving the corresponding taste.

Results: Results revealed no significant relation between emotional eating scores and brain response to anticipation of receipt of milkshake. In response to milkshake taste receipt, emotional eating scores were negatively related to activation in the right thalamus, the left insula and orbitofrontal cortex, and bilateral putamen and caudate. These findings remained significant after controlling for body mass index and body fat percentage.

Conclusions: The current results are discussed in the context of findings of reduced reward activation to palatable taste receipt in obese adults and adolescents.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest

The author has no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Negative correlation between emotional eating and signal change in (Panel A) the left insula and orbitofrontal cortex and (Panel B) right thalamus, putamen, and caudate and the left caudate and putamen. Images are in radiological view on the MNI-152 standard brain, with the left hemisphere displayed on the right in axial and coronal slices. Panel C: Scatterplot reveals percentage signal change averaged across the significant clusters as function of emotional eating. The overall pattern shown in the scatterplot was present for individual peaks, as well.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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