Disinhibited Eating in Obese Adolescents Is Associated With Orbitofrontal Volume Reductions and Executive Dysfunction
Open accessAbstract
In adults, obesity has been associated with disinhibited eating, decreased cortical gray matter (GM) volume, and lower performance on cognitive assessments. Much less is known about these relationships in adolescence and there are no studies assessing behavioral, cognitive, and neurostructural measures in the same group of study participants. This study examined the relationship between obesity, executive function, disinhibition, and brain volumes in relatively healthy youth. Participants included 54 obese and 37 lean adolescents. Participants received a cognitive battery, questionnaires of eating behaviors, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Neuropsychological assessments included tasks targeting frontal lobe function. Eating behaviors were determined using the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ), and structural MRIs were performed on a 1.5 T Siemens Avanto MRI System (Siemens, Erlangen, Germany) to determine brain GM volumes. Lean and obese adolescents were matched on age, years of education, gender, and socioeconomic status. Relative to lean adolescents, obese participants had significantly higher ratings of disinhibition on the TFEQ, lower performance on the cognitive tests, and lower orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) volume. Disinhibition significantly correlated with BMI, Stroop color‐word score, and OFC volume. This is the first report of these associations in adolescents and point to the importance of better understanding the associations between neurostructural deficits and obesity.
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Particular consumption of high-fat and/or high-sugar during pregnancy, childhood and adolescence can result in structural changes in the PFC and deficits in executive functioning.
“Particular consumption of high-fat and/or high-sugar during pregnancy, childhood and adolescence can result in structural changes in the PFC and deficits in executive functioning [308–311].”
From Development of prefrontal cortex (2022) · cites this paper as [309]
The Abstract and Results report lower orbitofrontal volume and poorer executive-task performance in obese adolescents than in lean adolescents. The paper does not establish that high-fat or high-sugar consumption during pregnancy, childhood, or adolescence caused these differences; the Discussion explicitly says its cross-sectional design cannot determine causation. (LLM, conf=0.90)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredDamage to the OFC can result in hyperphagia.
“Indeed, damage to the OFC can result in hyperphagia (122,123).”
From Obesity and addiction: Neurobiological overlaps (2013) · cites this paper as [123]
Research supports a functional link between OFC impairment and disordered eating, including an association between disinhibited eating in obese adolescents and reduced OFC volume.
“Indeed, several lines of research support a functional link between OFC impairment and disordered eating, including the reported association between disinhibited eating in obese adolescents and reduced OFC volume (66).”
From The Addictive Dimensionality of Obesity (2013) · cites this paper as [66]
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- Authors
- Maayan, L., Hoogendoorn, C., Sweat, V., & Convit, A.
- Affiliations
- Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research (US)
- NYU Langone Health (US)
- Corresponding author
- Convit, Antonio
- Venue
- Obesity
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2011-07
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1382-1387
- ISSN
- 1930-7381 (ISSN-L)
- 1930-739X
- PMC
- PMC3124611
- OpenAlex
- W1978823166
- Cited by
- 345
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 29 · 2015: 28 · 2014: 34 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 22
- FWCI
- 29.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Obesity (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R01DK083537, R21DK070985)
- National Center for Research Resources (UL1RR029893)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Keywords
- disinhibited eating, adolescent obesity, orbitofrontal cortex, gray matter volume, executive function, cognitive performance, Stroop task, Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire, brain structure, dietary habits
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Adult, Cognition Disorders, Cross-Sectional Studies, Feeding Behavior, Female, Frontal Lobe, Growth Disorders, Humans, Inhibition, Psychological, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Obesity, Orbit, Adolescent Development, Body Size, Young Adult, Executive Function
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