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Behavior, Psychology and Sociology

Neural underpinnings of food choice and consumption in obesity

International Journal of Obesity volume 46, pages 194–201 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives

Obesity is associated with unhealthy food choices. Food selection is driven by the subjective valuation of available options, and the perceived and actual rewards accompanying consumption. These cognitive operations are mediated by brain regions including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), and ventral striatum (vStr). This study investigated the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and functional activations in the vmPFC, dACC, and vStr during food selection and consumption.

Subjects/Methods

After overnight fasting, 26 individuals (BMI: 18–40 kg/m2) performed a food choice task while being scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Each trial involved selecting one beverage from a pair of presented options, followed by delivery of a 3 mL aliquot of the selected option using an MR-compatible gustometer. We also tracked subjective preference for each beverage throughout the experiment.

Results

During food choice, individuals with greater BMI had less activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex when selecting a high-value option and less vmPFC activation upon its consumption. Independent of BMI, during food choice the dACC and anterior insula elicited higher activation when a less preferred beverage was selected. Activation of the dACC and a broader frontoparietal network was also observed when deciding between options more similar in value. During consumption, receipt of a more preferred beverage was associated with greater vmPFC response, and attenuation of the dACC.

Conclusions

An individual’s preference for a food option modulates the brain activity associated with choosing and consuming it. The relationship between food preference and underlying brain activity is altered in obesity, with reduced engagement of cognition-related regions when presented with a highly valued option, but a blunted response in reward-related regions upon consumption.

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Fig. 1: Schematic of the food choice task and image of gustometer setup.
Fig. 2: Region-of-interest (ROIs) cohort average effects.
Fig. 3: Whole-brain exploratory cohort average effects.
Fig. 4: Region-of-interest BMI correlations with vmPFC fMRI during the consumption phase.
Fig. 5: Exploratory BMI correlations with fMRI responses to the value of the selected option during the decision phase of the task.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowlwedge the staff at Monash Biomedical Imaging Facility who supported and faclicitated technical aspects of the MRI data collection. With special mention to Mr Richard McIntyre, Ms Parissa Zakavi, Mrs Louise Mitchelle and Ms Janelle Redding.

Funding

The present study was funded by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council to IH and AVG (GNT1140197). AVG is supported by a Medical Research Future Fund CDF-2 Fellowship (MRF1141214). TC is supported by the Australian Research Council (DP 180102383, DE 180100389).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Erynn L. Christensen, Ian H. Harding.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychological Sciences and Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Erynn L. Christensen, Katharina Voigt, Trevor T-J Chong & Antonio Verdejo-Garcia

  2. Department of Neuroscience, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Ian H. Harding & Katharina Voigt

  3. Monash Biomedical Imaging, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Ian H. Harding

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Contributions

AVG, IH, TC designed research; EC, KV conducted research; EC, IH, and KV analysed data; EC, IH, and AVG wrote the paper; AVG had primary responsibility for final content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Antonio Verdejo-Garcia.

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Christensen, E.L., Harding, I.H., Voigt, K. et al. Neural underpinnings of food choice and consumption in obesity. Int J Obes 46, 194–201 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-021-00974-4

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