An fMRI Study of Satiation in Healthy Volunteers.

University of Birmingham

Status

Completed

Conditions

Appetite

Treatments

Other: Satiated / Pre-meal

Device: MRI

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT02298049

UBirmingham

Details and patient eligibility

About

To our knowledge no study has assessed the effects of a meal on neural responses to food cues and compared this with a condition simulating natural inter-meal hunger levels. This is important, as the existing literature often compares the effect of fasting to satiation, which may not reflect typical appetite processes. Thus, the purpose of this research was to examine the effect of a satiating lunch compared to a normal pre-meal state on blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) activity in the human brain, as measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Full description

We hypothesized that satiation would be associated with decreased brain activity across brain regions involved in both appetite and reward such as ventromedial prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, ventral striatum, hypothalamus, insula, amygdala and hippocampus. 16 healthy participants (8 males) were scanned on two separate test days, before and after eating a meal to satiation, or after not eating for 4 hours (satiated vs. pre-meal). fMRI BOLD signals to the sight and/or taste of the stimuli were recorded. Participants were given questionnaires to complete about their mood state and appetite before and after all scans.

Enrollment

16 patients

Sex

All

Ages

18 to 65 years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Healthy volunteers
Sufficiently fluent in English to understand the task and the instructions

Exclusion criteria

Currently taking medication
Past or current depression/dieting,
Smokers
Food allergies
Diabetes
Pregnancy
BMI score outside the normal range
Any contraindications to fMRI scanning (e.g. pacemakers, mechanical heart valve, hip replacement, metal implants)