Study Claims “Obese Children’s Brains More Responsive to Sugar”

A University of California, San Diego, study has reportedly claimed
that the brains of obese children “literally light up differently when
tasting sugar,” according to a December 11, 2014, press release.
Kerri Boutelle, et al., “Increased brain response to appetitive tastes
in the insula and amygdala in obese compared to healthy weight
children when sated,” International Journal of Obesity, December
2014. Researchers apparently scanned the brains of 10 obese
and 13 healthy weight children “while they tasted one-fifth of a
teaspoon of water mixed with sucrose (table sugar).”

The results evidently showed that the obese children “had heightened
activity in the insular cortex and amygdala, regions of the
brain involved in perception, emotion, awareness, taste, motivation
and reward.” As the lead author explained, “The take-home message
is that obese children, compared to healthy weight children, have
enhanced responses in their brain to sugar. That we can detect
these differences in children as young as eight years old is the most
remarkable and clinically significant part of the study.”

Issue 549