Leptin is associated with exaggerated brain reward and emotion responses to food images in adolescent obesity.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

In the U.S., an astonishing 12.5 million children and adolescents are now obese, predisposing 17% of our nation's youth to metabolic complications of obesity, such as type 2 diabetes (T2D). Adolescent obesity has tripled over the last three decades in the setting of food advertising directed at children. Obese adults exhibit increased brain responses to food images in motivation-reward pathways. These neural alterations may be attributed to obesity-related metabolic changes, which promote food craving and high-calorie food (HCF) consumption. It is not known whether these metabolic changes affect neural responses in the adolescent brain during a crucial period for establishing healthy eating behaviors.

Research design and methods

Twenty-five obese (BMI 34.4 kg/m2, a

SUBMITTER: Jastreboff AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4207200 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature