People eat either because they are hungry or for pleasure, even in the absence of hunger. While hunger-driven eating is fundamental for survival, pleasure-driven feeding may accelerate the onset of obesity and associated metabolic disorders. A study published in Nature Metabolism reveals neural circuits in the mouse brain that promote hunger-driven feeding and suppress pleasure-driven eating.
The findings open new possibilities for developing strategies to combat obesity. Ideal feeding habits would balance eating for necessity and for pleasure, minimizing the latter. In this study we identified a group of neurons that regulates balanced feeding in the brain.
" Dr. Yong Xu, co-corresponding author, professor of pediatrics – nutrition and associate director for basic sciences at the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine Previous studies have highlighted the role of neurons identified by the GABAergic proenkephalin (Penk) marker, an endogenous opioid hormone, on feeding and body weight balance. However, their contribution to regulating hunger- and pleasure-driven feeding had not been elucidated.
In this study, Xu and his colleagues showed that activation of Penk neurons in the brain region called diagonal band of Broca (DBB) of male mice supports an ideal feeding pattern, increasing hunger-driven feeding while reducing pleasure-driven eating. "I was surprised by this finding," Xu said. "We and other groups had previously shown that certain gr.