Imaging Study Finds Differences In Brains Of Obese Children.

reports on a small imaging study published online in Heliyon finding that obese children may differ in the “communication between areas of the brain that control impulsivity, inhibition, and reward” from healthy-weight controls. The difference “may make obese children more prone to overeat.” Coauthor Kevin Niswender, MD, PhD, from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, explained, “We found that as weight increased among children, the connectivity between the inhibition-associated brain region and reward-associated region decreased, while that between the impulsivity-associated region and reward region increased.” That means that obese children appear to have “more impulsivity drive and less inhibitory control.” The study was based on MRI in 38 children, with 5 being obese, and 6 others overweight. https://login.medscape.com/login/sso/getlogin?urlCache=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5tZWRzY2FwZS5jb20vdmlld2FydGljbGUvODU3NTU4&ac=401