Modeling interactions between brain function, diet adherence behaviors, and weight loss success

Authors

Amanda N. Szabo-Reed, University of Kansas Medical CenterFollow
Laura E. Martin, University of Kansas Medical CenterFollow
Jinxiang Hu, University of Kansas Medical CenterFollow
Hung-Wen Yeh, University of Kansas Medical CenterFollow
Joshua Powell, University of Denver
Rebecca J. Lepping, University of Kansas Medical CenterFollow
Trisha M. Patrician, University of Kansas Medical Center
Florance J. Breslin, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Joseph E. Donnelly, University of Kansas Medical CenterFollow
Cary R. Savage, University of Kansas Medical CenterFollow

ORCID IDs

Amanda N. Szabo-Reed

Joshua Powell

Rebecca J. Lepping

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2020

Citation

Obes Sci Pract. 2020;1–11. DOI: 10.1002/osp4.403

Comments

© 2020 The Authors

Abstract

Summary

Introduction: Obesity is linked to altered activation in reward and control brain cir-cuitry; however, the associated brain activity related to successful or unsuccessful weight loss (WL) is unclear.

Methods: Adults with obesity (N = 75) completed a baseline functional magnetic res-onance imaging (fMRI) scan before entering a WL intervention (ie,3-month diet and physical activity [PA] program). We conducted an exploratory analysis to identify the contributions of baseline brain activation, adherence behavior patterns, and the asso-ciated connections to WL at the conclusion of a 3-month WL intervention. Food cue-reactivity brain regions were functionally identified using fMRI to index brain activation to food vs nonfood cues. Food consumption, PA, and class attendance were collected weekly during the 3-month intervention.

Results: The left middle frontal gyrus (L-MFG, BA 46) and right middle frontal gyrus (R-MFG; BA 9) were positively activated when viewing food compared with nonfood images. Structural equation modeling with bootstrapping was used to investigate a hypothesized path model and revealed the following significant paths: (1) attendance to 3-month WL, (2) R-MFG to attendance, and (3) indirect effects of R-MFG through attendance on WL.

Conclusion: Findings suggest that brain activation to appetitive food cues predicts future WL through mediating session attendance, diet, and PA. This study contrib-utes to the growing evidence of the importance of food cue reactivity and self-regulation brain regions and their impact on WL outcomes.