High on food: the interaction between the neural circuits for feeding and for reward

This 2020 study developed a fast and reliable diet-induced overweight model in zebrafish for the purpose of studying the effects of overfeeding on brain homeostasis and of exploring new preventative and therapeutic strategies. After zebrafish were overfed for 4 weeks, many metabolic parameters mirrored that of overweight humans such as increased body weight, body mass […]

The underlying processes for promoting excessive calorie consumption and weight increase by Western diets high in fat and sugar are unknown. Although there is a well-established link between obesity and altered brain dopamine function, it is unclear whether these changes are (1) pre-existing – and therefore – increase a person’s susceptibility to weight gain, (2) […]