Why Do We Overeat? Unravelling the Relationship Between Food and the Brain

Grant number: DE190101244 | Funding period: 2019 - 2023

Completed

Abstract

This project aims to investigate how highly palatable foods that are high in fat and sugar, interact with the brain to cause their overconsumption. Highly palatable foods cause plasticity in brain reward circuitry in a manner similar to drugs of abuse. Identifying how these "junk" foods interact with reward areas of the brain will explore the neural mechanisms underlying the hedonic nature of appetite. This project will not only inform our understanding of how exposure to these foods can contribute to overeating and obesity, a huge and growing problem in Australia, but will also provide evidence to inform policy options relevant to advertising and marketing of these foods.

Related publications (14)

Incidence of adverse mental health outcomes after sleeve gastrectomy compared with gastric bypass and restrictive bariatric procedures: a retrospective cohort study

P Sumithran, L Roberts, ID Caterson, RM Brown, MJ Spittal, WA Brown

2023-07-01

Objective: This study examined rates of suicide and hospitalization with psychiatric diagnoses after sleeve gastrectomy compared w..

Binge eating, overeating and food addiction: Approaches for examining food overconsumption in laboratory rodents.

Robyn M Brown, Morgan H James

2023-04-20

Overeating ranges in severity from casual overindulgence to an overwhelming drive to consume certain foods. At its most extreme, o..

A Comparison of Emotional Triggers for Eating in Men and Women with Obesity

E Guerrero-Hreins, L Stammers, L Wong, RM Brown, P Sumithran

2022-10-01

Objective: Emotional eating (EE) is prevalent in people seeking obesity treatment and is a contributor to poor weight loss outcome..

Compulsive-like eating of high-fat high-sugar food is associated with ‘addiction-like’ glutamatergic dysfunction in obesity prone rats

D Sketriene, D Battista, L Lalert, N Kraiwattanapirom, HN Thai, T Leeboonngam, LA Knackstedt, J Nithianantharajah, P Sumithran, AJ Lawrence, RM Brown

2022-09-01

Chronic overeating is a core feature of diet-induced obesity. There is increasing evidence that in vulnerable individuals, such ov..

Gut-brain mechanisms underlying changes in disordered eating behaviour after bariatric surgery: a review

E Guerrero-Hreins, CJ Foldi, BJ Oldfield, A Stefanidis, P Sumithran, RM Brown

2022-08-01

Bariatric surgery results in long-term weight loss and an improved metabolic phenotype due to changes in the gut-brain axis regula..

Advancing translational neuroscience research for eating disorders

CJ Foldi, MH James, RM Brown, MK Piya, T Steward

2022-07-01

New directions in modelling dysregulated reward seeking for food and drugs

RM Brown, CV Dayas, MH James, RJ Smith

2022-01-01

Behavioral models are central to behavioral neuroscience. To study the neural mechanisms of maladaptive behaviors (including binge..

A review of sex differences in the mechanisms and drivers of overeating

RG Anversa, M Muthmainah, D Sketriene, A Gogos, P Sumithran, RM Brown

2021-10-01

Disordered eating is often associated with marked psychological and emotional distress, and severe adverse impact on quality of li..

Potential gut–brain mechanisms behind adverse mental health outcomes of bariatric surgery

RM Brown, E Guerrero-Hreins, WA Brown, CW le Roux, P Sumithran

2021-09-01

Bariatric surgery induces sustained weight loss and metabolic benefits via notable effects on the gut–brain axis that lead to alte..

The therapeutic potential of GLP-1 analogues for stress-related eating and role of GLP-1 in stress, emotion and mood: a review

E Guerrero-Hreins, AP Goldstone, RM Brown, P Sumithran

2021-08-30

Stress and low mood are powerful triggers for compulsive overeating, a maladaptive form of eating leading to negative physical and..

N-acetylcysteine reduces addiction-like behaviour towards high-fat high-sugar food in diet-induced obese rats

D Sketriene, D Battista, CJ Perry, P Sumithran, AJ Lawrence, RM Brown

2021-08-01

Compulsive forms of eating displayed by some obese individuals share similarities with compulsive drug-taking behaviour, a hallmar..

Orexins (hypocretins): The intersection between homeostatic and hedonic feeding

M Muthmainah, A Gogos, P Sumithran, RM Brown

2021-06-01

Orexins are hypothalamic neuropeptides originally discovered to play a role in the regulation of feeding behaviour. The broad conn..

Symptoms of addictive eating: What do different health professions think?

M Whatnall, J Skinner, A Verdejo-Garcia, A Carter, RM Brown, ZB Andrews, CV Dayas, CA Hardman, N Loxton, P Sumithran, T Burrows

2021-05-01

The symptoms of addictive eating are often debated, with some overlap in symptoms with substance addictions or other disorders suc..

Health professionals’ and health professional trainees’ views on addictive eating behaviours: A cross-sectional survey

T Burrows, A Verdejo-Garcia, A Carter, RM Brown, ZB Andrews, CV Dayas, CA Hardman, N Loxton, P Sumithran, M Whatnall

2020-09-01

Despite increasing research on the concept of addictive eating, there is currently no published evidence on the views of health pr..

University of Melbourne Researchers

Robyn M Brown