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Category: Neuroscience
2 Brain Networks Are Vital To Weight Loss, Neuroscientists Find
Those whose brains are better at resisting temptation and do not automatically seek out food are better at weight loss.
Those whose brains are better at resisting temptation and do not automatically seek out food are better at weight loss.
Two brain networks are highly influential in successful weight loss, neuroscientists have shown.
Activity in one network of brain regions — called ‘FN1’ — is linked to sensory and motors skills.
It is these areas of the brain that control people’s unconscious motivation to seek out food.
In other words, some people are automatically looking for food, even without being consciously aware of it.
The second network called ‘FN2’, influences attention and executive function.
These regions of the brain are involved in how people resist temptations to eat.
People who find it harder to resist temptations naturally have more difficulty losing weight.
In contrast, those whose brains are better at resisting temptation and do not automatically seek out food are better at weight loss, the researchers found.
Professor Jonathan Burdette, the study’s first author, said:
“These findings show that the brain network properties of people who were less successful at weight loss were different from folks who were more successful.
Some people have a stronger unconscious sensory motor bias to pursue food, while others appear to have less.
In a society of food abundance with food cues everywhere, this information can help explain why some people have such difficulty in taking off excess weight and maintaining it.”
The research involved 71 people enrolled in a weight loss trial.
Their brains were scanned at the start to see what types of activity would predict success.
The two functional networks, FN1 and FN2, were found to be critical to people’s progress.
Professor Burdette said:
“Our findings provide further insight into complex functional circuits in the brain so we now have a mechanistic understanding of why people aren’t losing weight.
In theory, if you know more about urges and control, we will be able to tailor therapies to an individual as opposed to treating everyone the same.”
Implications for weight loss therapy
The findings suggest that to lose weight people need to understand the importance of unconscious drives.
Unfortunately, people consistently underestimate the impact of unconscious process like habits on their behaviour.
Mindfulness is one way to become more aware of behaviours that are triggered unconsciously.
Certainly, mindfulness has been consistently found to reduce cravings for food, cigarettes and alcohol.
Over time, people practising mindfulness find it easier to resist acting on their desires.
Mindfulness helps the mind acknowledge cravings and allows them to flow out of consciousness.
In addition, self-weighing encourages people to be aware of their weight and makes them think about what they are eating.
Awareness is more likely to motivate change.
The study was published in the journal Obesity (Burdette et al., 2022).
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Running Has These Unbelievable Effects On The Brain
One of the first studies to show the benefits of running on younger brains in this way.
One of the first studies to show the benefits of running on younger brains in this way.
Runners show greater connectivity between vital parts of the brain than non-runners, research finds.
Stronger connections are seen in areas important for decision-making, planning and controlling attention.
It is one of the first studies to show the benefits of running on younger brains in this way.
Dr David Raichlen, the study’s first author, said:
“One of the things that drove this collaboration was that there has been a recent proliferation of studies, over the last 15 years, that have shown that physical activity and exercise can have a beneficial impact on the brain, but most of that work has been in older adults.
This question of what’s occurring in the brain at younger ages hasn’t really been explored in much depth, and it’s important.
Not only are we interested in what’s going on in the brains of young adults, but we know that there are things that you do across your lifespan that can impact what happens as you age, so it’s important to understand what’s happening in the brain at these younger ages.”
Researchers measured the activity in the brains of people between the ages of 18 and 25 while they were at rest.
Activities which require fine motor control — like playing a musical instrument — have previously been shown to alter brain function.
Fewer studies, though, have looked at repetitive activities like running or cycling.
Dr Raichlen said:
“These activities that people consider repetitive actually involve many complex cognitive functions — like planning and decision-making — that may have effects on the brain.”
Professor Gene Alexander, a study co-author, said:
“One of the key questions that these results raise is whether what we’re seeing in young adults — in terms of the connectivity differences — imparts some benefit later in life.
The areas of the brain where we saw more connectivity in runners are also the areas that are impacted as we age, so it really raises the question of whether being active as a young adult could be potentially beneficial and perhaps afford some resilience against the effects of aging and disease.”
The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (Raichlen et al., 2016).
How Memories Can Be Genetically Passed Down Through The Generations (M)
‘Memories’ can be passed down through genetic code from one generation to the next.
‘Memories’ can be passed down through genetic code from one generation to the next.
‘Memories’ of stress can be passed down from one generation to the next by being transmitted from cell to cell, and so from mother to daughter, research finds.
It follows on from a mouse study which showed that fearful memories of a smell could be passed on from parent to child without the child ever having experienced the smell.
The process, known as ‘epigenetics’, does not mean that the genes themselves are changed by, say, stressful events; rather that there are changes in the way those genes are packaged and expressed.
The study, published in the prestigious journal, Science, provides evidence for a controversial theory, namely that ‘memories’ can be passed down through genetic code (Gaydos et al., 2014).
Many scientists are sceptical about the study of epigenetics, since the mechanism is unproven.
Nevertheless, there is some evidence that ‘memories’ of early life stress can be passed on epigenetically from parents to children, causing a higher rate of adult depression in their offspring (Caspi et al., 2003).
Addiction along with depression may also be passed on by epigenetic mechanisms (Short et al., 2016; Vassoler & Sadri-Vakili, 2014)
Epigenetic inheritance
The study takes advantage of a chemical change called ‘methylation’ that takes place in a particular protein called histone H3, which has been well-studied in epigenetics.
The same protein is found in all multicellular animals, from humans down to the worms that were used in this study.
Professor Susan Strome, a biologist at the University of California at Santa Cruz who led the study, said:
“There has been ongoing debate about whether the methylation mark can be passed on through cell divisions and across generations, and we’ve now shown that it is.”
In their research, Professor Strome and colleagues bred worms that had the gene knocked out, which creates the methylation mark.
These were then bred with normal worms.
By following the chromosomes of normal and mutated worms as they divided and grew, the researchers were able to show the critical methylation mark moving from one generation to the next.
Professor Strome concluded:
“Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance is not a solved field–it’s very much in flux.
There are dozens of potential epigenetic markers.
In studies that document parent-to-child epigenetic inheritance, it’s not clear what’s being passed on, and understanding it molecularly is very complicated.
We have a specific example of epigenetic memory that is passed on, and we can see it in the microscope.
It’s one piece of the puzzle.”
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