Neurocorrelates of Deciding How Much Ice Cream to Eat During an Eating Episode
-
1
Drexel University, Nutrition Sciences, United States
-
2
School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, Drexel University, United States
Introduction: Given the current obesity epidemic, the question of why some individuals are able to control their food intake and others are not is very timely. fMRI imaging studies suggest that individuals who are obese have less post-ingestive activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) compared to individuals who are lean. This promotes greater eating frequency with no reduction in amount eaten per episode. Of all the macronutrients, protein is known to have a stronger effect on satiation (ending of the eating episode) and satiety (period between eating episodes). Using fNIRS we ask the question “what is the relationship of PFC activation during eating to amount of food eaten after consuming low (2 gram) or high (28 gram) protein reloads?”
Background: In a study of eating preferred versus non-preferred food, we assessed PFC activation (by fNIRS) during eating after a 2-3 hour fast, and found that the relative magnitude of medial prefrontal cortex activity (mPFC) versus lPFC activity during eating (mPFC > lPFC) is associated with greater food intake. This raises the second question of whether the PFC activity is in response to food eaten, or amount of food eaten is in response to differences in regional PFC activation. We hypothesize the later.
Approach/Methods: We examined the data obtained from a fNIRS study of the effect of protein preload on PFC activation during consumption of ice cream to see whether PFC activation influences food intake, or food intake influences brain activation. Briefly, the protein preload study involved twenty-nine healthy individuals (15 men, 14 women) participating in two sessions separated by at least two days. Women were only tested in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle as this is a time of greater food craving and we anticipated having greater sensitivity to detect an effect during this cycle phase. During the test session, participants consumed a 120kcal liquid dairy based preload of bovine milk protein with chocolate flavoring, delivered as 8 ounces of liquid within five minutes. (Order of preload consumption was randomized.) After consuming the preload, participants rested for fifteen minutes and then were fitted with the fNIRS sensory band and a two minute baseline was recorded. Participants were then allowed to consume ice cream ad libitum for ten minutes with continuous fNIRS recording. Participants completed the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire to determine cognitive restraint tendency at the end of the second test session.
Data Analysis: We separately compared the time to peak activity for both mPFC and lPFC versus the total eating time in individuals for both the LP and HP preload conditions using Repeated Measures ANOVA. Additionally, we examined the effects of cognitive restraint (CR), BMI and sex on time to peak m and lPFC activation, and total eating time using regression analysis. Food was weighed before and after the test session to determine amount consumed.
Results
Tables attached as supplemental material
Discussion/Future work
The demographic data reveals 1) that food intake correlated with BMI under both preload conditions (LP preload: r = 0.609, p <.01; HP preload: r = 0.521, p = 0.004), 2) that the difference in food intake between men and women after LP preload approached significance and was significant after the HP preload, and 3) that the difference in food intake between preloads approached significance when controlled for cognitive restraint). Additionally, our data demonstrates that under both preload conditions, time to peak activity for both mPFC and lPFC were significantly less than total eating time suggesting that amount of food eaten is in response to prior PFC activation. This result agrees with our hypothesis. There was no effect of sex or CR seen on time for peak activity for mPFC or lPFC under either preload. Interestingly, BMI was shown to modulate the time to peak activity for mPFC versus total eating time under both preloads, with the ratio of mPFC/total eating time decreasing as BMI increased. Future work will examine the effect of different types of protein and other macronutrients to affect PFC activation, and subsequent food intake.
Acknowledgements
This study was funded in part by a grant to JA Nasser from the College of Nursing and Health Professions of Drexel University.
Keywords:
fNIRS,
food intake,
Prefrontal Cortex,
Protein preload,
sex effects
Conference:
2nd International Neuroergonomics Conference, Philadelphia, PA, United States, 27 Jun - 29 Jun, 2018.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Neuroergonomics
Citation:
Nasser
JA,
Lanza
L,
Albajri
E,
Del Parigi
A and
Ayaz
H
(2019). Neurocorrelates of Deciding How Much Ice Cream to Eat During an Eating Episode.
Conference Abstract:
2nd International Neuroergonomics Conference.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2018.227.00113
Copyright:
The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers.
They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters.
The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated.
Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed.
For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions.
Received:
02 Apr 2018;
Published Online:
27 Sep 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Jennifer A Nasser, Drexel University, Nutrition Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, 19102, United States, jan57@drexel.edu