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Cited by 402Regulation of Appetite and ObesityEating Disorders and BehaviorsNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Exposure to appetitive food stimuli markedly activates the human brain

Wang, Gene-Jack, Volkow, Nora D, Telang, Frank, Jayne, Millard, Ma, Jim, Rao, Manlong, Zhu, Wei, Wong, Christopher T +3 more·2004·NeuroImage
DOI 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.11.026
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Abstract

Objective The increased incidence of obesity most likely reflects changes in the environment that had made food more available and palatable. Here we assess the response of the human brain to the presentation of appetitive food stimuli during food presentation using PET and FDG.Method Metabolic changes in response to food presentation were done in 12 healthy normal body weight subjects who were food deprived before the study.Results Food presentation significantly increased metabolism in the whole brain (24%, P < 0.01) and these changes were largest in superior temporal, anterior insula, and orbitofrontal cortices. The increases in the right orbitofrontal cortex were the ones that correlated significantly with the increases in self-reports of hunger and desire for food.Discussion The marked increase in brain metabolism by the presentation of food provides evidence of the high sensitivity of the human brain to food stimuli. This high sensitivity coupled with the ubiquitousness of food stimuli in the environment is likely to contribute to the epidemic of obesity. In particular, the activation of the right orbitofrontal cortex, a brain region involved with drive, may underlie the motivation to procure food, which may be subjectively experienced as "desire for food" and "hunger" when exposed to food stimuli.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.11.026

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  • Visual inputs associated with food converge with olfactory and taste information in the OFC.

    “there is evidence to suggest that visual inputs associated with food also converge with olfactory and taste information in the OFC [152-154]”

    From The Role of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Sensory Factors in Sweetness Perception of Food and Beverages: A Review (2019) · cites this paper as [154]

  • PET FDG studies in normal-weight individuals found that exposure to food cues increased metabolic activity in OFC, which was associated with desire for the food.

    “PET studies with FDG to measure brain glucose metabolism in normal-weight individuals reported that exposure to food cues increased metabolic activity in OFC, which was associated with the desire for the food (117).”

    From Obesity and addiction: Neurobiological overlaps (2013) · cites this paper as [117]

  • Normal-weight subjects exposed to food cues show increased OFC activity associated with food craving.

    “Normal-weight subjects exposed to food cues showed increased activity in OFC, which was associated with food craving (63).”

    From The Addictive Dimensionality of Obesity (2013) · cites this paper as [63]

  • PET and FDG studies in normal weight individuals have found that exposure to food-cues triggers increased metabolic activity in OFC, which is associated with the perception of hunger and the desire for food.

    “PET and FDG studies in normal weight individuals have found that exposure to food-cues trigger increased metabolic activity in OFC, which is associated with the perception of hunger and the desire for food (Wang et al 2004).”

    From Food and Drug Reward: Overlapping Circuits in Human Obesity and Addiction (2011) · cites this paper as Wang et al 2004

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Authors
Wang, G.-J., Volkow, N. D., Telang, F., Jayne, M., Ma, J., Rao, M., Zhu, W., Wong, C. T., Pappas, N. R., Geliebter, A., & Fowler, J. S.
Affiliations
  • Brookhaven National Laboratory (US)
  • Stony Brook University (US)
  • St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center (US)
Corresponding author
Wang, Gene-Jack
ORCID
Venue
NeuroImage
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2004-04
Volume
21
Issue
4
Pages
1790-1797
ISSN
1053-8119 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.11.026
OpenAlex
W2108420378
Cited by
402
References
48
Citations by year
2026: 13 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 28 · 2012: 26
FWCI
5.67
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • NeuroImage (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Energy
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA 00280, K20DA000280, DA7092-01)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R03DK061519)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Regulation of Appetite and Obesity
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Keywords
food presentation, brain glucose metabolism, orbitofrontal cortex, anterior insula, superior temporal cortex, hunger, desire to eat, obesity, food drive, food deprivation
MeSH terms
Adult, Arousal, Body Weight, Brain, Brain Mapping, Cerebral Cortex, Dominance, Cerebral, Drive, Eating, Energy Metabolism, Female, Food, Humans, Hunger, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Male, Motivation, Nerve Net, Statistics as Topic, Temporal Lobe, Tomography, Emission-Computed, Prefrontal Cortex, Fluorodeoxyglucose F18

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