Neurocognitive effects of umami: association with eating behavior and food choice

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

<p class="first" id="Par1">Free glutamate, a key substance underlying the umami taste of foods, fulfills a number of physiological functions related to energy balance. Previous experimental studies have shown that intake of a broth or soup supplemented with monosodium glutamate (MSG) prior to a meal can decrease appetite and food intake, particularly in women with propensity to overeat and gain weight. In this study, we examined potential neurocognitive mechanisms underlying this effect. We evaluated changes after intake of a chicken broth with or without MSG added (MSG+/MSG−) in a sample of healthy young women. Subjects were assessed with a food-modified computerized inhibitory control task, a buffet meal test with eye-tracking, and brain responses during a food choice paradigm evaluated with functional neuroimaging. We found evidence for improvement in key parameters related to inhibitory control following intake of the MSG+ broth, particularly in subjects with high levels of eating disinhibition, who also showed lower intake of saturated fat during the meal. Additionally, consumption of the MSG+ broth led to a reduction of the rate of fixation switches between plates at the meal, and increased engagement of a brain region in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex previously associated with successful self-control during dietary decisions. Altogether, these results, while preliminary, suggest potential facilitating effects of glutamate (MSG) on cognitive executive processes that are relevant for the support of healthy eating behaviors and food choice. </p>

Related collections

Most cited references 35

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Self-control in decision-making involves modulation of the vmPFC valuation system.

Todd A. Hare, Colin F Camerer, Antonio Rangel (2009)

Every day, individuals make dozens of choices between an alternative with higher overall value and a more tempting but ultimately inferior option. Optimal decision-making requires self-control. We propose two hypotheses about the neurobiology of self-control: (i) Goal-directed decisions have their basis in a common value signal encoded in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and (ii) exercising self-control involves the modulation of this value signal by dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to monitor brain activity while dieters engaged in real decisions about food consumption. Activity in vmPFC was correlated with goal values regardless of the amount of self-control. It incorporated both taste and health in self-controllers but only taste in non-self-controllers. Activity in DLPFC increased when subjects exercised self-control and correlated with activity in vmPFC.

0 comments Cited 544 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Attentional bias to food images associated with elevated weight and future weight gain: an fMRI study.

Eric Stice, Janet Ng, Sonja Yokum (2011)

Behavioral studies reveal that obese vs. lean individuals show attentional bias to food stimuli. Yet research has not investigated this relation using objective brain imaging or tested whether attentional bias to food stimuli predicts future weight gain, which are important aims given the prominence of food cues in the environment. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine attentional bias in 35 adolescent girls ranging from lean to obese using an attention network task involving food and neutral stimuli. BMI correlated positively with speed of behavioral response to both appetizing food stimuli and unappetizing food stimuli, but not to neutral stimuli. BMI correlated positively with activation in brain regions related to attention and food reward, including the anterior insula/frontal operculum, lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC), and superior parietal lobe, during initial orientation to food cues. BMI also correlated with greater activation in the anterior insula/frontal operculum during reallocation of attention to appetizing food images and with weaker activation in the medial OFC and ventral pallidum during reallocation of attention to unappetizing food images. Greater lateral OFC activation during initial orientation to appetizing food cues predicted future increases in BMI. Results indicate that overweight is related to greater attentional bias to food cues and that youth who show elevated reward circuitry responsivity during food cue exposure are at increased risk for weight gain.

0 comments Cited 123 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Disinhibition: its effects on appetite and weight regulation.

Isabelle King, Linda J. M. Bryant, J Blundell (2008)

Over the past 30 years, the understanding of eating behaviour has been dominated by the concept of dietary restraint. However, the development of the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire introduced two other factors, Disinhibition and Hunger, which have not received as much recognition in the literature. The objective of this review was to explore the relationship of the Disinhibition factor with weight regulation, food choice and eating disorders, and to consider its aetiology. The review indicates that Disinhibition is an important eating behaviour trait. It is associated not only with a higher body mass index and obesity, but also with mediating variables, such as less healthful food choices, which contribute to overweight/obesity and poorer health. Disinhibition is also implicated in eating disorders and contributes to eating disorder severity. It has been demonstrated that Disinhibition is predictive of poorer success at weight loss, and of weight regain after weight loss regimes and is associated with lower self-esteem, low physical activity and poor psychological health. Disinhibition therefore emerges as an important and dynamic trait, with influences that go beyond eating behaviour and incorporate other behaviours which contribute to weight regulation and obesity. The characteristics of Disinhibition itself therefore reflect many components representative of a thrifty type of physiology. We propose that the trait of Disinhibition be more appropriately renamed as 'opportunistic eating' or 'thrifty behaviour'.