Abstract
Brain dopamine signaling is essential for the motivation to eat, and obesity is associated with altered dopaminergic signaling and increased food craving. We used molecular neuroimaging to explore whether striatal dopamine transporter (DAT) availability is associated with craving as measured with the General Food Craving Questionnaire-Trait (G-FCQ-T). We here show that humans with obesity (n = 34) experienced significantly more craving for food compared with lean subjects (n = 32), but food craving did not correlate significantly with striatal DAT availability as assessed with 123I-FP-CIT single-photon emission computed tomography. We conclude that food craving is increased in obesity, but the scores for food craving are not related to changes in striatal DAT availability.
Highlights
Craving is defined as “a strong feeling of wanting something”
We hypothesized that: (i) scores for food craving are higher in subjects with obesity compared to lean subjects; (ii) striatal dopamine transporter (DAT) availability does not differ between subjects with obesity and lean subjects; and (iii) food craving scores are negatively associated with striatal DAT availability, based on previous observations as described above [8,29,30]
As striatal DAT availability declines with aging [41], and age differed between the lean subjects and the subjects with obesity, with aging [41], and age differed between the lean subjects and the subjects with obesity, we adjusted for age in the comparison of striatal DAT availability between the two groups
Summary
Craving is defined as “a strong feeling of wanting something”. In the light of the current obesity pandemic, it may not come as a surprise that most dictionaries explain the noun “craving” with the use of an example of food, i.e.,: “a craving for chocolate” [1]. Food-induced striatal dopamine release correlated with the experienced meal pleasantness [20] and a stronger post-ingestive dopamine release was associated with a lower post-prandial craving for food [21]. In obese subjects, a blunted dopamine response to food, along with a decreased striatal dopamine D2/3 receptor availability, has been observed [22,23,24]. Little is known on whether changes in the dopaminergic system in humans with obesity are associated with increased food craving and knowledge on the underlying mechanisms is scarce. We here investigated whether craving for food is increased in obesity, and whether craving is associated with striatal DAT availability. We hypothesized that: (i) scores for food craving are higher in subjects with obesity compared to lean subjects; (ii) striatal DAT availability does not differ between subjects with obesity and lean subjects; and (iii) food craving scores are negatively associated with striatal DAT availability, based on previous observations as described above [8,29,30]
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