Food reward and its aberrations in obesity

ElsevierVolume 48, December 2022, 101224Current Opinion in Behavioral SciencesHighlights•

Food reward is encoded in the dopaminergic midbrain.

The reinforcing value of food results from an interplay between taste and nutritional properties.

Integration of the homeostatic status is mediated through hormones, the vagus nerve, and interconnections with the hypothalamus.

Habitual exposure to a western diet impacts the DA system and drives overconsumption.

Genetic factors and fetal programming can increase the susceptibility to the effects of western diet on brain reward circuitry.

Ubiquitous availability of ultraprocessed food and reduced energy expenditure is driving the obesity pandemic. From an evolutionary perspective, our brain is optimized to ensure survival in an environment with fluctuating food availability and long fasting periods. Hence, energy-dense food is encoded as highly rewarding by our brain and functions as a reinforcer to guide foraging behavior. We here focus on the dopaminergic encoding of food reward in the midbrain and review how the reinforcing value of energy-dense food results from an interplay between taste and nutritional properties. We further provide an overview how the metabolic status is integrated in food-reward behavior through strong interconnections between the reward system and the hypothalamus, the vagus nerve, and the endocrine system, and also consider cortical cognitive influences on food-reward behavior. In the second half of this mini-review, we explore the effect of chronic exposure to western diet on this well-orchestrated system, leading to overconsumption and excess food intake. Last, we briefly introduce fetal programming and genetic predisposition as critical factors that determine the vulnerability of the dopaminergic pathways to western diet-induced reward dysfunction and weight gain.

© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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