Female emotional eaters show abnormalities in consummatory and anticipatory food reward: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Abstract

Objective: To test the hypothesis that emotional eaters show greater neural activation in response to food intake and anticipated food intake than nonemotional eaters and whether these differences are amplified during a negative versus neutral mood state.

Method: Female emotional eaters and nonemotional eaters (N = 21) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during receipt and anticipated receipt of chocolate milkshake and a tasteless control solution while in a negative and neutral mood.

Results: Emotional eaters showed greater activation in the parahippocampal gyrus and anterior cingulate (ACC) in response to anticipated receipt of milkshake and greater activation in the pallidum, thalamus, and ACC in response to receipt of milkshake during a negative relative to a neutral mood. In contrast, nonemotional eaters showed decreased activation in reward regions during a negative versus a neutral mood.

Discussion: Results suggest that emotional eating is related to increased anticipatory and consummatory food reward, but only during negative mood.

(c) 2008 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Figures

FIGURE 1

The gustatory manifold is anchored to the headcoil. New tubing and syringes are used for each subject and the mouthpiece is cleaned and sterilized between uses. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.]

FIGURE 2

Results from ANOVA models of anticipatory food reward. The color bar represents the F values representative for both figures. Axial sections of increased activation bilaterally in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and parahippocampal gyrus (PHC) in response to anticipated receipt of chocolate versus tasteless control solution in emotional eaters during a negative mood state compared with nonemotional eaters in the negative mood and emotional eaters during a neutral mood. The bar graph represents relative activation in the left parahippocampal gyrus [-30, -39, -3] in response to anticipatory reward. Results from other regions followed the same overall pattern of activation.

FIGURE 3

Results from ANOVA models of consummatory food reward. The color bar represents the F values representative for all figures. Axial sections of increased activation bilaterally in the pallidum, in the left thalamus, anterior thalamus (Ant Thal), and right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in response to receipt of chocolate versus tasteless control solution in emotional eaters during a negative mood state compared with nonemotional eaters in the negative mood and emotional eaters during a neutral mood. The bar graph represents relative activation in the right pallidum [18, -3, 0] in response to consummatory reward. Results from other regions followed the same overall pattern of activation.