HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Smeets, P. A. Articles by van der Grond, J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Smeets, P. A. Articles by van der Grond, J. Agricola Articles by Smeets, P. A. Articles by van der Grond, J.

Effect of satiety on brain activation during chocolate tasting in men and women ^1,2,3

¹ From the Image Sciences Institute (PAMS, MJPvO, and JvdG) and the Department of Radiology (RAJN), University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands; the Department of Food and Chemical Risk Analysis, TNO Quality of Life, Zeist, Netherlands (PAMS, CdG, and AS); and the Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands (MJPvO and JvdG)

Background:The brain plays a crucial role in the decision to eat, integrating multiple hormonal and neural signals. A key factor controlling food intake is selective satiety, ie, the phenomenon that the motivation to eat more of a food decreases more than does the motivation to eat foods not eaten.

Objective:We investigated the effect of satiation with chocolate on the brain activation associated with chocolate taste in men and women.

Design:Twelve men and 12 women participated. Subjects fasted overnight and were scanned by use of functional magnetic resonance imaging while tasting chocolate milk, before and after eating chocolate until they were satiated.

Results:In men, chocolate satiation was associated with increased taste activation in the ventral striatum, insula, and orbitofrontal and medial orbitofrontal cortex and with decreased taste activation in somatosensory areas. Women showed increased taste activation in the precentral gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, and putamen and decreased taste activation in the hypothalamus and amygdala. Sex differences in the effect of chocolate satiation were found in the hypothalamus, ventral striatum, and medial prefrontal cortex (all P < 0.005).

Conclusions:Our results indicate that men and women differ in their response to satiation and suggest that the regulation of food intake by the brain may vary between the sexes. Therefore, sex differences are a covariate of interest in studies of the brain's responses to food.

Key Words: Functional MRI • functional magnetic resonance imaging • brain • satiation • satiety • satiety response • sex differences

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. M. Culbert, S. M. Breedlove, S. A. Burt, and K. L. Klump Prenatal Hormone Exposure and Risk for Eating Disorders: A Comparison of Opposite-Sex and Same-Sex Twins Arch Gen Psychiatry, March 1, 2008; 65(3): 329 - 336. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M.-A. Cornier, S. S Von Kaenel, D. H Bessesen, and J. R Tregellas Effects of overfeeding on the neuronal response to visual food cues Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, October 1, 2007; 86(4): 965 - 971. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Minerva BMJ, July 1, 2006; 333(7557): 52 - 52. [Full Text] [PDF]