Reward Region Responsivity Predicts Future Weight Gain and Moderating Effects of the TaqIA Allele.

ABSTRACT: Because no large prospective study has investigated neural vulnerability factors that predict future weight gain, we tested whether neural response to receipt and anticipated receipt of palatable food and monetary reward predicted body fat gain over a 3-year follow-up in healthy-weight adolescent humans and whether the TaqIA polymorphism moderates these relations. A total of 153 adolescents completed fMRI paradigms assessing response to these events; body fat was assessed annually over follow-up. Elevated orbitofrontal cortex response to cues signaling impending milkshake receipt predicted future body fat gain (r = 0.32), which is a novel finding that provides support for the incentive sensitization theory of obesity. Neural response to receipt and anticipated receipt of monetary reward di

SUBMITTER: Stice E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4502268 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature