Scientists Probe Brain’s Role in Obesity

KEYWORDS:
• DIETARY FATS
• DIETARY SUCROSE
• EATING
• ENVIRONMENT
• FEEDING BEHAVIOR
• FOOD PREFERENCES
• GENETIC PREDISPOSITION TO DISEASE
• IMPULSIVE BEHAVIOR
• OBESITY
• PUBLIC HEALTH

Chicago—Genetic and environmental influences on the brain may contribute to obesity, suggests research presented at the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting here in October.

The meeting provided a timely forum for bringing together basic and clinical researchers who conduct studies of the causes of overeating and obesity, which largely support the concept of obesity as a biological problem rather than an issue of overindulgence.

Brain imaging of volunteers drinking a shake suggests that overweight persons with a gene variant associated with fewer dopamine receptors may be prone to impulsive eating.

(Photo credit: Liza McCorkle/iStockphoto.com)

Ilia Karatsoreos, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University in New York, and colleagues studied the effects of changing the circadian rhythm in mice by artificially creating a 20-hour day (10 hours of light and 10 hours of dark). After 6 to 8 weeks, the mice experiencing these shorter days showed weight gain, changes in body temperature rhythms, and …