Effect of flavor on neuronal responses of the hypothalamus and ventral tegmental area

Although it is well known that food intake is affected by the palatability of food, the actual effect of flavoring on regulation of energy-homeostasis and reward perception by the brain, remains unclear. We investigated the effect of ethyl-butyrate (EB), a common non-caloric food flavoring, on the blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) response in the hypothalamus (important in regulating energy homeostasis) and ventral tegmental area (VTA; important in reward processes). The 16 study participants (18-25 years, BMI 20-23 kg/m²) drank four study stimuli on separate visits using a crossover design during an fMRI setup in a randomized order. The stimuli were; plain water, water with EB, glucose solution (50gram/300 ml) and glucose solution with EB. BOLD responses to ingestion of the stimuli were determined in the hypothalamus and VTA as a measure of changes in neuronal activity after ingestion. In the hypothalamus and VTA, glucose had a significant effect on the BOLD response but EB flavoring did not. Glucose with and without EB led to similar decrease in hypothalamic BOLD response and glucose with EB resulted in a decrease in VTA BOLD response. Our results suggest that the changes in neuronal activity in the hypothalamus are mainly driven by energy ingestion and EB does not influence the hypothalamic response. Significant changes in VTA neuronal activity are elicited by energy combined with flavor.