Obese Children’s Brains More Responsive to Sugar

In a recent study published in the journal International Journal of Obesity, researchers from the University of California found that the brains of obese children respond more intensely when tasting sugar. This elevated sense of “food reward,” which involves being motivated by food could mean some children have brain circuitries that predispose them to crave more sugar throughout life. After scanning the brains of 23 children, 10 who were obese and 13 who had healthy weights, the researchers found that obese children had heightened activity in the insular cortex and amygdala, regions of the brain involved in perception, emotion, awareness, taste, motivation and reward. “Any obesity expert will tell you that losing weight is hard and that the battle has to be won on the prevention side,” said the lead author of the study. “The study is a wake-up call that prevention has to start very early because some children may be born with a hypersensitivity to food rewards or they may be able to learn a relationship between food and feeling better faster than other children.” Although the study does not show a causal relationship between sugar hypersensitivity and overeating, it does support the idea that the growing number of America’s obese youth may have a heightened psychological response to food. To read more about this study, click here.