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Nutritional Neurosciences

Human Cortical Specialization for Food: a Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Investigation¹

Marie-Pierre St-Onge^*,**,2, Melissa Sy, Steven B. Heymsfield^** and Joy Hirsch^,

^* Department of Nutrition Sciences, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL; Functional MRI Research Center, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY; ^** Obesity Research Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY; and Departments of Radiology and Psychology, Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, Columbia University, New York, NY

² To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mpstonge{at}uab.edu.

Although specialized cortical pathways that process specific sensory stimuli and/or execute cognitive functions have been identified, the neuro-specificity for food-related stimuli has not been clearly demonstrated. We employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare neural systems associated with the appreciation of foods and nonfoods. Healthy, normal weight, right-handed men and women (n = 12; age 29.8 ± 1.8 y, BMI 21.8 ± 0.8 kg/m²) were imaged by fMRI while fasting. Real food and nonfood items were presented to subjects both visually and tactilely, during scanning. Subjects were instructed to pay attention to the items. A randomized 2 x 2 block design consisted of 4 conditions: visual food, visual nonfood, tactile food, and tactile nonfood. Brain regions that were significantly activated to a greater extent during the presentation of foods compared with nonfood items included the anterior cingulate, superior temporal gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, hippocampus, and the insula. These findings support the claim that the presence of food (either seen or felt) elicits a unique cortical response that is differentiated from nonfood items. This neural substrate specialized for processing of foods informs models of food-related behavior.

KEY WORDS: • functional magnetic resonance imaging • food • eating • appetite • obesity • neurocircuitry • cross-modal conjunction