Prefrontal Cortex Recruitment to Food Stimuli Differs in Overweight/Obesity and Binge Eating Disorder

At a phenotypical level, the repeated occurrence of binge eating episodes clearly differentiates individuals with binge eating disorder (BED) from individuals with overweight but without BED. Their neural profiles during food-related inhibition, however, indicate prefrontal hypoactivation in both groups. The present study investigated differential neural activations in upper lateral (right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex [DLPFC]) and inferior (right inferior frontal gyrus [IFG]) control regions during food-related inhibition by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). In addition, activity in reward-related brain regions (orbitofrontal cortex [OFC]) during stimulus processing was measured.

Individuals with BED (n = 32), a control group of individuals with overweight and without BED (OWC, n = 21), and a control group of individuals with normal weight and without BED (NWC; n = 31) underwent a Go/No-Go (GNG) and a stimulus degradation task during fNIRS, both with food and non-food stimuli in counterbalanced order.

Most predicted outcomes were not significant. Neural recordings during GNG underscore prefrontal hypoactivation in both BED and OWC relative to NWC, however, with differential alterations: In the Food-NoGo condition, the BED group displayed hypoactivation in the IFG, while the OWC showed hypoactivation in the DLPFC.

The results suggest differential requirements for DLPFC and IFG recruitment during food-related inhibition in individuals with BED and overweight.