How Impulsiveness Influences Obesity: The Mediating Effect of Resting-State Brain Activity in the dlPFC

Abstract

Impulsiveness is a stable personal characteristic that contributes to obesity and may interact with it. Specifically, obesity is caused by unrestrained impulse eating that is not consciously controlled and leads to a hormonal imbalance that also can impair impulse control. However, the mechanism of this relationship is unclear. In our study, 35 obese individuals (body mass index, BMI > 28) were recruited and matched with 31 healthy controls (BMI < 24) in age and education level. All the participants underwent a resting-state fMRI and completed the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11. The results showed that patients with obesity had a significantly lower fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and higher fALFF in the left fusiform cortex. In addition, non-planning impulsiveness was positively correlated with BMI. Importantly, we found that the right dlPFC completely mediated the relationship between non-planning impulsiveness and BMI. Our findings suggest that impulsivity is statistically more likely to precede obesity than to precede impulsivity and contributes to obesity by downregulating spontaneous activity in the dlPFC. This suggests that the dlPFC, which is associated with executive control, may be able a potential target for treating obesity.

Early Life Stress and Body-Mass Index Modulate Brain Connectivity in Alcohol Use Disorder

“…On the other hand, we observed that the ELS in uenced anticorrelation of the right SMG seed with the somatosensory (left postcentral gyrus) and impulse control (left MFG) clusters was weaker in AUD-low BMI individuals compared to those with high BMI, which in light of previous ndings 27,28,[52][53][54] , suggest elevated impulsivity and poor self-control behaviors in AUD with co-occurrence of high BMI. The ndings suggest two potential scenarios: either ELS contributes to overeating in individuals with AUD, or ELSinduced overeating increases their susceptibility to excessive alcohol consumption.…”

Patient, supporter and primary healthcare professional perspectives on health risks in over 16s with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in England: a national survey study

“…sleep disorders, weight [42,67,86]), many health risks (e.g. substance misuse, self-harm, high risk sexual behaviour) are more likely to relate to the underlying neuropsychological processes in ADHD such as difficulties in evaluation of risk and delay discounting [87][88][89] and associations with impulsivity [90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99].…”

Applying psycho-behavioural phenotyping in obesity characterization

“…Impulsivity is a multi-faceted construct [ 104 ] whose features represent risk factors for obesity [ 67 ] and have been associated with unsuccessful outcomes of its treatment [ 74 , 75 , 77 ]. However, prefrontal cognitive control could also serve as a potential target for the treatment of obesity [ 105 ]. From a psycho-behavioural perspective, interventions designed for specific disorders, like ADHD or BED -characterized by high impulsive behaviours and lack of control- could also be useful for patients with obesity, even for those that do not necessarily present one of these psychological disorders.…”