Virtual grocery shopping and cookie consumption following intranasal insulin or placebo application.

Abstract

Insulin receptors are present in brain areas that are involved in the control of hunger and satiety, and intranasal insulin is assumed to have an anorexigenic effect. This known influence of insulin on satiety encouraged us to investigate the effect of intranasal insulin on feeding-related behaviors. The aim of the current study was to explore the influence of 40 IU of intranasal insulin on the grocery shopping behavior and cookie consumption in a group of 30 healthy young men, using a crossover randomized double-blind design. Using a virtual mock supermarket, we tested whether the intranasal administration of insulin influences purchase behavior in comparison to a placebo or control condition. The participants also provided hedonic ratings of food pictures, as well as their subjective feeling of hunger. We calculated an objective measure of hunger from the amount of cookies eaten. In contradiction to our hypotheses, no significant differences regarding ratings, calorie content of purchased food products, and cookie consumption were found between the treatment conditions. Our conclusion is that 40 IU intranasal insulin had no influence on the evaluation of pictured foods in healthy young men in our task. Acknowledging that previous studies have found effects for intranasal insulin and food cue processing, we suggest that future research should focus on chemosensory stimulation or cognitive tasks in behavioral experiments and carefully consider the doses of intranasal insulin.

Effects of Intranasal Insulin Administration on Cerebral Blood Flow and Cognitive Performance in Adults: A Systematic Review of Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Intervention Studies

“…Systemic Spill-Over Thirty-five studies reported the effects on serum insulin concentrations. For normal-weight adults, mean intervention effects over time of 40 IU [29,34,36,41,[61][62][63][64][65][66][67], 80 IU [34], and 160 IU [24,31,34,40,[68][69][70][71][72][73][74] were summarized in Figure 2a. Circulating insulin concentrations did not appear to change after a dose of 40 IU.…”

Intranasal insulin

“…39 However, recent experiments that combined the IN administration of an acute dose of 40 IU of insulin with a virtual grocery shopping task failed to find a hypophagic insulin effect in healthy young men. 62 The timing of IN insulin delivery in relation to food intake may play an important role for its impact on energy intake because IN insulin administered to healthy women in the postprandial (but not in the preprandial) state reduced the consumption and rated palatability of chocolate cookies offered some time after lunch. 44 These results and related experiments using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), 63 which included men and women, do not support the idea that the sensitivity to the anorexigenic impact of insulin is reduced in females compared to males.…”

The effect of intranasal insulin on appetite and mood in women with and without obesity: an experimental medicine study

“…Acute administration IN insulin reduces food intake in healthy adults [ 4 – 7 ] and longer term administration suppresses hunger and decreases body fat content [ 8 ] suggesting potential for weight management. However, not all studies have found effects of IN insulin on appetite and body weight [ 9 – 11 ]. To address these inconsistencies it is important to investigate the underlying mechanisms.…”