Metabolic Regulation of Brain Response to Food Cues

Identification of energy sources depends upon the ability to form associations between food cues and nutritional value. As such, cues previously paired with calories elicit neuronal activation in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), which reflects the reinforcing value of food. The identity of the physiological signals regulating this response remains elusive. Using fMRI, we examined brain response to noncaloric versions of flavors that had been consumed in previous days with either 0 or 112.5 calories from undetected maltodextrin. We report a small but perceptually meaningful increase in liking for the flavor that had been paired with calories and find that change in liking was associated with changes in insular responses to this beverage. In contrast, NAcc and hypothalamic response to the calorie-paired flavor was unrelated to liking but was strongly associated with the changes in plasma glucose levels produced by ingestion of the beverage when consumed previously with calories. Importantly, because each participant ingested the same caloric dose, the change in plasma glucose depended upon individual differences in glucose metabolism. We conclude that glucose metabolism is a critical signal regulating NAcc and hypothalamic response to food cues, and that this process operates independently from the ability of calories to condition liking.