The following news release is being issued today by the U.S.
Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory. The release
can be viewed electronically at:
bnl.govbnlpr041904.htmOpen ↗
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News Release number: 04-42 for release: Monday, April 19,
2004 contact: Dennis Tartaglia, 212-481-7000,
[email hidden] Karen McNulty Walsh, 631 344-8350,
[email hidden] or
Exposure to Food Increases Brain Metabolism
Same area of brain affected as seen in drug-addiction
studies
UPTON, NY -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's
Brookhaven National Laboratory have produced new evidence
that brain circuits involved in drug addiction are also
activated by the desire for food. The mere display of food
-- smelling and tasting favorite foods without actually
eating them -- causes increases in metabolism throughout the
brain. Increases of metabolism in the right orbitofrontal
cortex, a brain region that controls drive and pleasure,
also correlate strongly with self-reports of desire for food
and hunger.
"These results could explain the deleterious effects of
constant exposure to food stimuli, such as advertising,
candy machines, food channels, and food displays in stores,"
says Brookhaven physician Gene-Jack [censored], the study's lead
author. "The high sensitivity of this brain region to food
stimuli, coupled with the huge number and variety of these
stimuli in the environment, likely contributes to the
epidemic of obesity in this country." The study appears in
the April 2004 issue of NeuroImage.
Brookhaven scientists have conducted previous research
showing that the right orbitofrontal cortex is involved in
compulsive behaviors characteristic of addictive states, and
that this brain region is activated when addicted
individuals crave drugs such as cocaine
(bnl.govbnlpr010199.htmlOpen ↗).
They have also shown that food stimulation, as done in this
study, increases levels of dopamine, a neurotransmitter
involved in pleasure and reward, in the brain¹s dorsal
striatum
(bnl.govbnlpr052002.htmOpen ↗).
Additionally, to better understand the relationship of the
dopamine system to obesity, they looked at the brain
circuits of obese individuals and found that, like drug
addicts, these individuals had fewer dopamine receptors than
normal control subjects
(bnl.govbnlpr020101.htmOpen ↗).
In the new study, the scientists looked at how 12 food-
deprived, normal-weight study volunteers responded to their
favorite foods by using positron emission tomography (PET),
a brain-scanning technique, to measure brain metabolism
during food stimulation. Each volunteer was given an
injection containing a radiotracer, a radioactive chemical
"tag" designed to "light up" activated areas of the brain.
The PET camera picks up the radioactive signal and measures
the level and location of the tracer. Study subjects' brains
were scanned twice over a two-day period, with and without
food stimulation. Subjects were asked not to eat for 17 to
19 hours prior to the study.
Volunteers were presented with foods that they had reported
as their favorites on a pre-study questionnaire. The food
was warmed to enhance its smell and the subjects were
allowed to view and smell it, as well as taste a small
portion placed on their tongues with a cotton swab. They
were also asked to describe the foods as they tasted them.
As a control, during scans when food stimulation was not
used, subjects were asked to describe in great detail their
family genealogy while they were presented with non-food
related items. They were allowed to smell these items and
they had a cotton swab dipped in water placed on their
tongues to mimic the food-stimulation condition. Study
participants were also instructed to describe, on a scale of
1 to 10, whether they felt hungry or desired food at the
start of the study and at five-minute intervals for a total
of 45 minutes.
The researchers found that food stimulation significantly
increased whole brain metabolism. Metabolism was higher in
all regions of the brain examined, except for the occipital
cortex, which controls vision and would not be affected. The
areas most affected were the superior temporal, anterior
insula, and orbitofrontal cortices. Food stimulation also
resulted in increases in self-reports of hunger and desire
for food. Increases in metabolism in the right orbitofrontal
cortex were the ones that were most significantly correlated
with increased reports of hunger.
This study was funded by the Office of Biological and
Environmental Research within the U.S. Department of
Energy¹s Office of Science and the National Institute on
Drug Abuse (NIDA). Scientists from NIDA, Stony Brook
University, and St. Luke¹s/Roosevelt Hospital in New York
City contributed to the study.
One of the ten national laboratories overseen and primarily
funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts
research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental
sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national
security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major
scientific facilities available to university, industry and
government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed
for DOE's Office of Science by Brookhaven Science
Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony
Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory
facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and
technology organization. Visit Brookhaven Lab's electronic
newsroom for links, news archives, graphics, and more:
bnl.govnewsroomOpen ↗
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---= BOYCOTT FRENCH--GERMAN (belgium) =--- ---= Move UNITED
NATIONS To Paris =--- Sheldon ```````````` "Life would be
devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation."