ORCID Profile
0000-0001-7315-3268
Current Organisation
University of Valladolid
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Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-08-2018
DOI: 10.1038/S41366-018-0173-3
Abstract: Accumulation of visceral adiposity can disrupt the brain's sensitivity to interoceptive feedback, which is coded in the insula. This study aimed to test the link between visceral fat and the functional connectivity of two insulae regions relevant for eating behavior: the middle-dorsal insula (mIns), which codes homeostatic changes, and the rostral insula (rIns), which codes stable representations of food properties. We also assessed the impact of visceral adiposity-associated insulae networks on food craving. Seventy-five adults ranging in weight status (normal and excess weight) underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and subjective food craving measures. We examined the association between visceral fat and seed-based functional connectivity of the mIns and the rIns, controlling for BMI, age, and sex, using multiple regressions in SPM8. We also tested if visceral fat mediated the association between insulae connectivity and food craving. Higher visceral adiposity was associated with decreased connectivity between the mIns and a cluster involving the hypothalamus and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. Decreased connectivity in this network was associated with greater food craving, a relation mediated by visceral adiposity. Visceral adiposity was also associated with increased connectivity between the mIns and the middle frontal gyri and the right intraparietal cortex, and between the rIns and the right amygdala. Accumulation of visceral adiposity is linked to disrupted functional connectivity within the mIns and rIns networks. Furthermore, the link between the mIns network and food craving is mediated by visceral fat. Findings suggest that visceral fat disrupts insula coding of bodily homeostatic signals, which may boost externally driven food cravings.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 09-09-2023
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.BIOPSYCH.2015.11.020
Abstract: The food addiction model proposes that obesity overlaps with addiction in terms of neurobiological alterations in the striatum and related clinical manifestations (i.e., craving and persistence of unhealthy habits). Therefore, we aimed to examine the functional connectivity of the striatum in excess-weight versus normal-weight subjects and to determine the extent of the association between striatum connectivity and in idual differences in food craving and changes in body mass index (BMI). Forty-two excess-weight participants (BMI > 25) and 39 normal-weight participants enrolled in the study. Functional connectivity in the ventral and dorsal striatum was indicated by seed-based analyses on resting-state data. Food craving was indicated with subjective ratings of visual cues of high-calorie food. Changes in BMI between baseline and 12 weeks follow-up were assessed in 28 excess-weight participants. Measures of connectivity in the ventral striatum and dorsal striatum were compared between groups and correlated with craving and BMI change. Participants with excess weight displayed increased functional connectivity between the ventral striatum and the medial prefrontal and parietal cortices and between the dorsal striatum and the somatosensory cortex. Dorsal striatum connectivity correlated with food craving and predicted BMI gains. Obesity is linked to alterations in the functional connectivity of dorsal striatal networks relevant to food craving and weight gain. These neural alterations are associated with habit learning and thus compatible with the food addiction model of obesity.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.JAAC.2018.06.039
Abstract: Adolescents with excess weight are particularly sensitive to stress, which may contribute to the presence of emotional eating behaviors. It is proposed that this may be due to alterations in the connectivity between hypothalamic networks and regions of the "emotional nervous system," involved in the regulation of energy balance and stress processing. However, this remains to be clarified in adolescents with excess weight. We investigated whole-brain differences in the functional connectivity of the medial and lateral hypothalamus (MH and LH) between adolescents with excess weight (EW, n = 53 mean age = 14.64 years, SD = 1.78) and normal weight (NW, n = 51 mean age = 15.29 years, SD = 1.75) using seed-based resting-state analyses. Then, in a subset of 22 adolescents with EW (mean age = 15.75 years, SD = 1.70) and 32 with NW (mean age = 15.27, SD = 2.03), we explored for group interactions between the MH/LH networks and stress response in the Trier Social Stress Task (TSST) and emotional eating, assessed with the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEB-Q). Compared to NW, EW showed higher functional connectivity in the LH-orbitofrontal cortex, ventral striatum, anterior insula, and in the MH-middle temporal cortex networks. EW also showed lower connectivity in the LH-cerebellum, and in the MH-middle prefrontal, pre-, and postcentral gyri networks. In EW, higher connectivity of the LH-nucleus accumbens and LH-midbrain networks were associated with stress response. Higher connectivity in the LH-midbrain was also associated with a greater presence of emotional eating behaviors in EW. Adolescents with EW showed functional connectivity alterations within both MH/LH networks. Alterations in the LH network were linked with higher levels of stress response and emotional-driven eating patterns.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-06-2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.AAP.2018.12.024
Abstract: There is an outstanding need to identify predictors of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) among young adults, particularly women. Impulsivity, or the tendency to act without thinking, is a predictor of DUI, but the specific facets of impulsivity that predict DUI and their interaction with sex differences remain unclear. We aimed to investigate sex differences in the link between impulsivity facets and DUI. Moreover, we sought to replicate previous findings regarding sex differences on impulsivity, and associations between impulsivity facets and DUI. A total of 506 university students participated in the study (males, n = 128 females, n = 378). Participants completed measures of impulsivity (UPPS-P short version), alcohol use (AUDIT-C), frequency of DUI episodes and related perception of risk. The UPPS-P assesses five facets of impulsivity: sensation seeking, (lack of) premeditation and perseverance and positive and negative urgency. Men showed higher sensation seeking and lack of perseverance, alcohol use and DUI frequency and lower risk perception than women. DUI frequency was negatively associated with perception of risk and positively associated with alcohol use and the five impulsivity facets. After controlling for alcohol use and risk perception, only lack of premeditation was associated with DUI frequency in the whole s le. Sensation seeking was positively associated with DUI frequency only in women. The link between lack of premeditation and DUI suggest that pre-drinking planning strategies can contribute to prevent risky driving. In women, specific links between sensation seeking and DUI suggest the need for personality-tailored prevention strategies.
Location: Spain
No related grants have been discovered for Cristina Martín Pérez.