How Does Your Brain Affect Your Weight Loss Efforts?

Wake Forest University School of Medicine researchers discovered that two specific brain networks can have a significant impact on how successful a person's weight loss journey is.

The aim of this study was to understand whether weight loss after six months of a behavior-based intervention was associated with the connectivity of two functional networks, FN1 and FN2, in a cohort of obese older adults.

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For the uninitiated, functional brain networks are the parts of the brain that communicate with each other in a coordinated manner. MRI scans were performed on 71 patients enrolled in a randomized weight loss clinical trial to examine whether and how FN1 and FN2 predict weight loss.

Participants were examined twice: once at rest and once after completing a food cue exercise. The data was analyzed again after six months to see if there was a link between the baseline networks and the change in the participants' weight.

The link of brain function in FN1 that involves sensory and motor skills was found to be strongly linked to six-month weight loss during the resting state, according to researchers. The six-month loss was significantly associated with FN2, which is known to include self-regulation and the ability to pay attention to food-cued conditions.

According to the researchers, weight reduction success is linked to two independent brain network biases: a sensory-motor motivational bias to pursue food in the resting state, and a deficit in the executive control and attention network when processing food cues.

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Dr. Jonathan Burdette, a professor of radiology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, summarizes the study's main findings: "These findings suggest that persons who were less successful at losing weight had distinct brain network features than those who were more successful. Some people seem to have a stronger unconscious sensorimotor bias towards eating, while others seem to have a weaker one. This information can help explain why some people have trouble losing weight and keeping it off in a world where food is abundant and food cues are everywhere."

Burdette continued, "Our findings provide further light on the brain's complex functioning circuits, allowing us to have a better understanding of why people aren't shedding weight. We will be able to adapt therapy to an individual rather than treating everyone the same if we learn more about cravings and control."

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