Abstract
The prefrontal cortex is appreciated as a key neurobiological player in human eating behavior. A special focus is herein dedicated to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which is critically involved in executive function such as cognitive control over eating. Persons with obesity display hypoactivity in this brain area, which is linked to overconsumption and food craving. Contrary to that, higher activity in the DLPFC is associated with successful weight-loss and weight-maintenance. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive neurostimulation tool used to enhance self-control and inhibitory control. The number of studies using tDCS to influence eating behavior rapidly increased in the last years. However, the effectiveness of tDCS is still unclear, as studies show mixed results and individual differences were shown to be an important factor in the effectiveness of non-invasive brain stimulation. Here, we describe the current state of research of human studies using tDCS to influence food intake, food craving, subjective feeling of hunger and body weight. Excitatory stimulation of the right DLPFC seems most promising to reduce food cravings to highly palatable food, while other studies provide evidence that stimulating the left DLPFC shows promising effects on weight loss and weight maintenance, especially in multisession approaches. Overall, the reported findings are heterogeneous pointing to large interindividual differences in tDCS responsiveness.
Highlights
Obesity, one of the most serious public health problems, has reached epidemic proportions [1,2,3]
The results suggest that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and its functional connections to other frontal regions are vital for successful dietary self-control making this frontal network a prime target for the treatment of obesity
In another study including women with obesity, subjects received in a random order single anodal, cathodal, and sham Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) aimed at the left DLPFC with subsequent ad libitum ad libitum buffet after stimulation
Summary
One of the most serious public health problems, has reached epidemic proportions [1,2,3]. Neuroimaging studies suggest that individuals affected by overweight and obesity show dysregulation of the mesolimbic reward and prefrontal cortex (PFC) cognitive control system (for recent review [13]). Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) represent novel tools able to influence neuronal activity [14,15,16,17,18,19,20]. It is still unclear if stimulating specific brain areas, linked to overconsumption, improves food related outcomes on the behavioral level. This review will focus on tDCS of the DLPFC
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have