Food‐Related Odor Probes of Brain Reward Circuits During Hunger: A Pilot fMRI Study
Open accessAbstract
Food aromas can be powerful appetitive cues in the natural environment. Although several studies have examined the cerebral responses to food images, none have used naturalistic food aromas to study obesity. Ten individuals (five normal‐weight and five obese) were recruited to undergo 24 h of food deprivation. Subjects were then imaged on a 3T Siemens Trio‐Tim scanner (Siemens, Erlangen, Germany) while smelling four food‐related odors (FRO; two sweet odors and two fat‐related) and four “nonappetitive odors” (NApO; e.g., Douglas fir). Before the imaging session, subjects rated their desire to eat each type of food to determine their most preferred (P‐FRO). Across all 10 subjects, P‐FRO elicited a greater blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response than the NApO in limbic and reward‐related areas, including the bilateral insula and opercular (gustatory) cortex, the anterior and posterior cingulate, and ventral striatum. Obese subjects showed greater activation in the bilateral hippocampus/parahippocampal gyrus, but lean controls showed more activation in the posterior insula. Brain areas activated by food odors are similar to those elicited by cues of addictive substances, such as alcohol. Food odors are highly naturalistic stimuli, and may be effective probes of reward‐related networks in the context of hunger and obesity.
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Responses to food cues depend on nutrition status, highlighting the role of the homeostatic network in controlling the reward network, which is also influenced by stress-processing pathways.
“The dependence of the responses to food cues on the nutrition status (60,61) highlights the role of the homeostatic network in the control of the reward network, which in turn is also influenced by neuronal pathways that process stress.”
From Obesity and addiction: Neurobiological overlaps (2013) · cites this paper as [60]
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- Authors
- Bragulat, V., Dzemidzic, M., Bruno, C., Cox, C. A., Talavage, T., Considine, R. V., & Kareken, D. A.
- Affiliations
- Indiana University Indianapolis (US)
- Indiana University School of Medicine (US)
- Purdue University West Lafayette (US)
- Corresponding author
- Considine, Robert V.
- Kareken, David A.
- Venue
- Obesity
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2010-08
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 1566-1571
- ISSN
- 1930-7381 (ISSN-L)
- 1930-739X
- OpenAlex
- W2140940174
- Cited by
- 128
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 5.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Obesity (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R01AA014605)
- National Center for Research Resources (M01RR000750)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Regulation of Appetite and Obesity
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Keywords
- food aroma, hunger, brain reward circuits, food deprivation, appetite, insula, ventral striatum, cingulate cortex, hippocampus, gustatory cortex, naturalistic stimuli, food cues
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Brain, Brain Mapping, Cues, Female, Food, Food Deprivation, Food Preferences, Humans, Hunger, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Odorants, Pilot Projects, Reward, Smell, Stimulation, Chemical, Young Adult
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