Reward System Responses to Food Aromas

Food aromas are a part of foods' flavor, and can promote overeating. Alcohol consumption also stimulates appetite, and contributes to overeating while under alcohol's acute effects. Knowing the brain regions that respond to food aromas and alcohol, and how they are modified by the amount of body fat and alcohol exposure, will provide critical information about the neural systems that underlie loss of control of eating. Therefore, the main hypotheses of this study are that: A) Lean and obese subjects have different brain responses to food aromas that enhance desire to eat, and B) Acute alcohol intoxication i) enhances the brain's response to food odors, and ii) affects brain systems that inhibit or terminate eating. To test these hypotheses, we have modified functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigms successfully used to study alcoholic drink aromas in subjects at risk for alcoholism.

Food aromas are powerful appetitive cues that are intrinsic to foods' flavor and hedonic qualities, and such cues can facilitate overeating. Alcohol consumption similarly "primes" appetite, and contributes to overeating while under alcohol's acute effects. Knowing the brain loci that respond to such naturalistic appetitive stimuli, and how they are modified by body fat and alcohol exposure, will provide critical insights about the neural systems that underlie loss of control of eating. Therefore, the main hypotheses of this study are that: A) Lean and obese subjects have different limbic responses to the olfactory cues that enhance motivation to eat, and B) Acute alcohol intoxication i) potentiates the brain's reward system response to food odors, and ii) affects brain systems involved in behavioral inhibition and eating restraint. To test these hypotheses, we have modified functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigms successfully used to study alcoholic drink aromas in subjects at risk for alcoholism.