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Walnut consumption increases activation of the insula to highly desirable food cues: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over fMRI study.
Farr, OM, Tuccinardi, D, Upadhyay, J, Oussaada, SM, Mantzoros, CS
Diabetes, obesity & metabolism. 2018;(1):173-177
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Abstract
AIMS: The use of walnuts is recommended for obesity and type 2 diabetes, although the mechanisms through which walnuts may improve appetite control and/or glycaemic control remain largely unknown. MATERIALS AND METHODS To determine whether short-term walnut consumption could alter the neural control of appetite using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we performed a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, cross-over trial of 10 patients who received, while living in the controlled environment of a clinical research center, either walnuts or placebo (using a validated smoothie delivery system) for 5 days each, separated by a wash-out period of 1 month. RESULTS Walnut consumption decreased feelings of hunger and appetite, assessed using visual analog scales, and increased activation of the right insula to highly desirable food cues. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that walnut consumption may increase salience and cognitive control processing of highly desirable food cues, leading to the beneficial metabolic effects observed.
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The effect of a single dose of multivitamin and mineral combinations with and without guaraná on functional brain activity during a continuous performance task.
White, DJ, Camfield, DA, Maggini, S, Pipingas, A, Silberstein, R, Stough, C, Scholey, A
Nutritional neuroscience. 2017;(1):8-22
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Relatively few studies have explored the possibility of acute cognitive effects of multivitamin ingestion. This report explores the acute brain electrophysiological changes associated with multivitamin and mineral supplementation, with and without guaraná, using the steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP). METHODS Based on the known SSVEP correlates of A-X continuous performance task (CPT) performance, and sensitivity to acute psychopharmacological manipulations, the A-X CPT was adopted as a task paradigm to explore treatment-related neurophysiological changes in attentional processing. Twenty healthy non-smoking adults aged 21-39 years (mean age = 28.35 years, SD = 5.52) took part in this double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, balanced crossover design study. RESULTS The study demonstrated both transient and tonic changes in the SSVEP response during completion of the A-X CPT following multivitamin and mineral treatment both with and without guaraná. Transient changes in SSVEP response in prefrontal regions were observed after a single dose of a multivitamin and mineral preparation indicative of enhanced activity within brain regions engaged by the attentional demands of the task. This pattern of change in frontal regions was correlated with improved behavioural performance after treatment with the multivitamin and mineral combination. Where tonic shifts in SSVEP response were investigated, multivitamin and mineral treatment was associated with a pattern of increased inhibition across posterior regions, with enhanced excitatory processing in prefrontal regions. In contrast, multivitamin and mineral treatment with additional guaraná showed a tonic shift towards greater excitatory processes after a single treatment, consistent with the caffeine content of this treatment. DISCUSSION While preliminary in nature, these findings suggest a single multivitamin/mineral dose is sufficient to impact on functional brain activity in task-related brain regions.
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Does brain creatine content rely on exogenous creatine in healthy youth? A proof-of-principle study.
Merege-Filho, CA, Otaduy, MC, de Sá-Pinto, AL, de Oliveira, MO, de Souza Gonçalves, L, Hayashi, AP, Roschel, H, Pereira, RM, Silva, CA, Brucki, SM, et al
Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism = Physiologie appliquee, nutrition et metabolisme. 2017;(2):128-134
Abstract
It has been hypothesized that dietary creatine could influence cognitive performance by increasing brain creatine in developing individuals. This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, proof-of-principle study aimed to investigate the effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive function and brain creatine content in healthy youth. The sample comprised 67 healthy participants aged 10 to 12 years. The participants were given creatine or placebo supplementation for 7 days. At baseline and after the intervention, participants undertook a battery of cognitive tests. In a random subsample of participants, brain creatine content was also assessed in the regions of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left hippocampus, and occipital lobe by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) technique. The scores obtained from verbal learning and executive functions tests did not significantly differ between groups at baseline or after the intervention (all p > 0.05). Creatine content was not significantly different between groups in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left hippocampus, and occipital lobe (all p > 0.05). In conclusion, a 7-day creatine supplementation protocol did not elicit improvements in brain creatine content or cognitive performance in healthy youth, suggesting that this population mainly relies on brain creatine synthesis rather than exogenous creatine intake to maintain brain creatine homeostasis.
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Relative ability of fat and sugar tastes to activate reward, gustatory, and somatosensory regions.
Stice, E, Burger, KS, Yokum, S
The American journal of clinical nutrition. 2013;(6):1377-84
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Abstract
BACKGROUND Although the intake of high-fat and high-sugar food activates mesolimbic reward, gustatory, and oral somatosensory brain regions, contributing to overeating, few studies have examined the relative role of fat and sugar in the activation of these brain regions, which would inform policy, prevention, and treatment interventions designed to reduce obesity. OBJECTIVE We evaluated the effect of a high-fat or high-sugar equicaloric chocolate milkshake and increasing fat or sugar milkshake content on the activation of these regions. DESIGN Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess the neural response to the intake of high-fat/high-sugar, high-fat/low-sugar, low-fat/high-sugar, and low-fat/low-sugar chocolate milkshakes and a tasteless solution in 106 lean adolescents (mean ± SD age = 15.00 ± 0.88 y). Analyses contrasted the activation to the various milkshakes. RESULTS High-fat compared with high-sugar equicaloric milkshakes caused greater activation in the bilateral caudate, postcentral gyrus, hippocampus, and inferior frontal gyrus. High-sugar compared with high-fat equicaloric milkshakes caused greater activation in the bilateral insula extending into the putamen, the Rolandic operculum, and thalamus, which produced large activation regions. Increasing sugar in low-fat milkshakes caused greater activation in the bilateral insula and Rolandic operculum; increasing fat content did not elicit greater activation in any region. CONCLUSIONS Fat caused greater activation of the caudate and oral somatosensory regions than did sugar, sugar caused greater activation in the putamen and gustatory regions than did fat, increasing sugar caused greater activity in gustatory regions, and increasing fat did not affect the activation. Results imply that sugar more effectively recruits reward and gustatory regions, suggesting that policy, prevention, and treatment interventions should prioritize reductions in sugar intake. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as DK092468.
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Anterior cingulate taste activation predicts ad libitum intake of sweet and savory drinks in healthy, normal-weight men.
Spetter, MS, de Graaf, C, Viergever, MA, Smeets, PA
The Journal of nutrition. 2012;(4):795-802
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Abstract
After food consumption, the motivation to eat (wanting) decreases and associated brain reward responses change. Wanting-related brain responses and how these are affected by consumption of specific foods are ill documented. Moreover, the predictive value of food-induced brain responses for subsequent consumption has not been assessed. We aimed to determine the effects of consumption of sweet and savory foods on taste activation in the brain and to assess how far taste activation can predict subsequent ad libitum intake. Fifteen healthy men (age: 27 ± 2 y, BMI: 22.0 ± 1.5 kg/m2) participated in a randomized crossover trial. After a >3-h fast, participants were scanned with the use of functional MRI before and after consumption of a sweet or savory preload (0.35 L fruit or tomato juice) on two occasions. After the scans, the preload juice was consumed ad libitum. During scanning, participants tasted the juices and rated their pleasantness. Striatal taste activation decreased after juice consumption, independent of pleasantness. Sweet and savory taste activation were not differentially affected by consumption. Anterior cingulate taste activation predicted subsequent ad libitum intake of sweet (r = -0.78; P < 0.001(uncorrected)) as well as savory juice (r = -0.70; P < 0.001(uncorrected)). In conclusion, we showed how taste activation of brain reward areas changes following food consumption. These changes may be associated with the food's physiological relevance. Further, the results suggest that anterior cingulate taste activation reflects food-specific satiety. This extends our understanding of the representation of food specific-appetite in the brain and shows that neuroimaging may provide objective and more accurate measures of food motivation than self-report measures.
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Sleep restriction leads to increased activation of brain regions sensitive to food stimuli.
St-Onge, MP, McReynolds, A, Trivedi, ZB, Roberts, AL, Sy, M, Hirsch, J
The American journal of clinical nutrition. 2012;(4):818-24
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BACKGROUND Epidemiologic evidence shows an increase in obesity concurrent with a reduction in average sleep duration among Americans. Although clinical studies propose that restricted sleep affects hormones related to appetite, neuronal activity in response to food stimuli after restricted and habitual sleep has not been investigated. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to determine the effects of partial sleep restriction on neuronal activation in response to food stimuli. DESIGN Thirty healthy, normal-weight [BMI (in kg/m²): 22-26] men and women were recruited (26 completed) to participate in a 2-phase inpatient crossover study in which they spent either 4 h/night (restricted sleep) or 9 h/night (habitual sleep) in bed. Each phase lasted 6 d, and functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed in the fasted state on day 6. RESULTS Overall neuronal activity in response to food stimuli was greater after restricted sleep than after habitual sleep. In addition, a relative increase in brain activity in areas associated with reward, including the putamen, nucleus accumbens, thalamus, insula, and prefrontal cortex in response to food stimuli, was observed. CONCLUSION The findings of this study link restricted sleep and susceptibility to food stimuli and are consistent with the notion that reduced sleep may lead to greater propensity to overeat.
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High cerebral insulin sensitivity is associated with loss of body fat during lifestyle intervention.
Tschritter, O, Preissl, H, Hennige, AM, Sartorius, T, Stingl, KT, Heni, M, Ketterer, C, Stefan, N, Machann, J, Schleicher, E, et al
Diabetologia. 2012;(1):175-82
Abstract
AIMS/HYPOTHESIS Loss of weight and body fat are major targets in lifestyle interventions to prevent diabetes. In the brain, insulin modulates eating behaviour and weight control, resulting in a negative energy balance. This study aimed to test whether cerebral insulin sensitivity facilitates reduction of body weight and body fat by lifestyle intervention in humans. METHODS The study was performed as an additional arm of the TUebingen Lifestyle Intervention Program (TULIP). In 28 non-diabetic individuals (14 female/14 male; mean ± SE age 42 ± 2 years; mean ± SE BMI 29.9 ± 0.8 kg/m²), we measured cerebrocortical insulin sensitivity by using magnetoencephalography before lifestyle intervention. Total and visceral fat were measured by using MRI at baseline and after 9 months and 2 years of lifestyle intervention. RESULTS Insulin-stimulated cerebrocortical theta activity at baseline correlated with a reduction in total adipose tissue (r = -0.59, p = 0.014) and visceral adipose tissue (r = -0.76, p = 0.001) after 9 months of lifestyle intervention, accompanied by a statistical trend for reduction in body weight change (r = -0.37, p = 0.069). Similar results were obtained after 2 years. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION Our results suggest that high insulin sensitivity of the human brain facilitates loss of body weight and body fat during lifestyle intervention.
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Vitamin B12 may be more effective than nortriptyline in improving painful diabetic neuropathy.
Talaei, A, Siavash, M, Majidi, H, Chehrei, A
International journal of food sciences and nutrition. 2009;:71-6
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Despite many therapeutic options, painful diabetic neuropathy is still a common and challenging complication of diabetes mellitus and is often resistant to treatment with current modalities. METHODS In this randomized, single-blind clinical trial we compared the efficacy of parenteral vitamin B(12) and nortriptyline, for symptomatic improvement of pain, paresthesia, burning, freezing, stabbing and electrical sensation. Changes in nerve conduction parameters of amplitude, duration and latency were also compared. RESULTS One hundred patients (50 in each group) completed the study. After treatment, the pain score based on a visual analogue scale decreased 3.66 units in the vitamin B(12) group and 0.84 units in the nortriptyline group (P <0.001). Similarly, the paresthesia score decreased 2.98 units versus 1.06 units (P <0.001). The decrements of tingling sensation were 3.48 units versus 1.02 units (P <0.001). Changes in vibration, position, pinprick and nerve conduction parameters were not significant in two groups. CONCLUSION In conclusion, vitamin B(12) is more effective than nortriptyline for the treatment of symptomatic painful diabetic neuropathy.
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Is there a change in water proton density associated with functional magnetic resonance imaging?
Jochimsen, TH, Norris, DG, Möller, HE
Magnetic resonance in medicine. 2005;(2):470-3
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In a recent series of studies (see, for example, Stroman et al. Magn Reson Imag 2001; 19:827-831), an increase of water proton density has been suggested to correlate with neuronal activity. Owing to the significant implications of such a mechanism for other functional experiments, the functional signal changes in humans at very short echo times were re-examined by spin-echo EPI at 3 T. The results do not confirm the previous hypothesis of a significant increase in extravascular proton density at TE = 0. Instead, an alternative explanation of the effect is offered: The use of a low threshold to identify activated voxels may generate an artificial offset in functional contrast due to the inclusion of false-positives in the analysis.