June 19, 2023 — An appealing narrative is seductive. Recently, we tripped over a case study in this basic fact when a new study in Nature Metabolism stirred up considerable attention from health reporters with claims about “severely impaired” brain responses to nutrients in humans with obesity. But in retrospect, there’s an plausible argument that the analyses were impaired […]
June 13, 2023 — We are in the midst of a great deal of cognitive dissonance about obesity. Part of the boilerplate description is that it is simply a dietary disease. But recent scientific and therapeutic advances tell a different story – that obesity is just as much a disease of altered brain function as it is a dietary […]
May 27, 2021 — Two serious health concerns – obesity and loss of brain function – intersect in curious ways. Good evidence suggests that obesity in early and mid life can have a negative effect on cognition. But later in life, the story is a bit fuzzier. In fact, some researchers have suggested the opposite might be true for […]
February 28, 2019 — Choosing is something that people hold dear. Even if we’re not always good at it. So, quite naturally, when people assume that obesity is all about food (not exactly true), they assume that the answer is better food choices. But a new review from Trends in Cognitive Sciences gives us reason to pause and think. […]
March 17, 2018 — Here’s a diet that has everything. It actually provides for a pretty good quality of nutrition. It has a buzzy acronym – MIND – that suggests a compelling and very specific benefit. And it has the American Heart Association (among others) hyping it. The MIND diet has a lot going for it. Except for one thing. The […]
March 31, 2017 — Brain function can play a role in the development of obesity. And in turn obesity can play a role in brain function. Many knowledge gaps remain, but fascinating insights keep coming. And dopamine – an important neurotransmitter – seems to lie at the heart of changes in the brain linked to obesity. More and more research links dopamine […]
February 18, 2017 — It’s a complex puzzle. But your brain definitely responds in very complex ways when you spot some food. Food marketers know this at a practical level. They spend their lives figuring out ways to make you respond to images of their products. Neuroscientists are figuring it out at a more basic level. Functional MRI images […]
March 6, 2015 — New research published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience describes the mechanisms that link obesity to addiction pathways in the brain. Researchers from the University of Aalto in Finland used PET (positron emission tomography) scanning to map the density of opioid and dopamine receptors in the brains of women with severe obesity and women […]
November 22, 2014 — Neuroscience researchers meeting in Washington DC this week seem to have obesity on the brain. The Society for Neuroscience highlighted four abstracts from their annual meeting that focus on ways that diet and obesity alter brain and behavior. Once again, we have a hint that the relationship between diet, physical activity, and obesity is a […]
March 30, 2014 — A study to be published April 1 in Neurology suggests that mid-life onset of type 2 diabetes seems to be associated with late-life cognitive deficits due to changes in brain volume. MedPage Today recently reported highlights of this study’s results using this headline: “Diabetes in Midlife Shrinks the Brain.” The healthcare community is well aware of complications […]
