Brain Responds Differently to Food Rewards in Bulimia Nervosa
Findings could contribute to new treatment therapies targeting specific brain pathways
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have discovered differences in how the brain responds to food rewards in individuals with a history of bulimia nervosa (BN), an eating disorder characterized by frequent episodes of binge eating followed by efforts of purging to avoid weight gain. The findings further define specific brain mechanisms involved in eating disorders and could help lead to new treatment therapies.
Metabolic (hunger) and hedonic (reward) brain mechanisms both contribute to the regulation of eating. The findings, published July 10 in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, address the question of whether binge eating in BN results from disruption of one or both mechanisms, or is the product of their interaction.
“Our study suggests that adults with bulimia nervosa may have elevated reward-related brain activation in response to taste. This altered neural response may explain why these individuals tend to remain driven to eat even when not hungry,” said Alice V. Ely, PhD, principal author of the study in the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine.
The researchers looked at the insula, striatum, amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex — brain regions involved in evaluating taste signals and integrating them with body cues (such as hunger) to drive behavior.
“We found that the areas of the brain that differed in the two study groups were the left insula, putamen and amygdala, which determine how rewarding a taste might be and how emotionally important it is. That information is then sent to parts of the brain that motivate eating,” said Ely.
