The Influence of Palatable Diets in Reward System Activation: A Mini Review

The changes in eating patterns that have occurred in recent decades are an important cause of obesity. Food intake and energy expenditure are controlled by a complex neural system involving the hypothalamic centers and peripheral satiety system (gastrointestinal and pancreatic hormones). Highly pala...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Isabel Cristina de Macedo, Joice Soares de Freitas, Iraci Lucena da Silva Torres
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2016-01-01
Series:Advances in Pharmacological Sciences
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/7238679
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The changes in eating patterns that have occurred in recent decades are an important cause of obesity. Food intake and energy expenditure are controlled by a complex neural system involving the hypothalamic centers and peripheral satiety system (gastrointestinal and pancreatic hormones). Highly palatable and caloric food disrupts appetite regulation; however, palatable foods induce pleasure and reward. The cafeteria diet is such a palatable diet and has been shown consistently to increase body weight and induce hyperplasia in animal obesity models. Moreover, palatable high-fat foods (such as those of the cafeteria diet) can induce addiction-like deficits in brain reward function and are considered to be an important source of motivation that might drive overeating and contribute to the development of obesity. The mechanism of neural adaptation triggered by palatable foods is similar to those that have been reported for nondrug addictions and long-term drug use. Thus, this review attempts to describe the potential mechanisms that might lead to highly palatable diets, such as the cafeteria diet, triggering addiction, or compulsion through the reward system.
ISSN:1687-6334
1687-6342