Visceral feedback from the body is often subconscious, but plays an important role in guiding motivated behaviors. Vagal sensory neurons relay "gut feelings" to noradrenergic (NA) neurons in the caudal nucleus of the solitary tract (cNTS), which in turn project to the anterior ventrolateral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (vlBNST) and other hypothalamic-limbic forebrain regions. Prior work supports a role for these circuits in modulating memory consolidation and extinction, but a potential role in retrieval of conditioned avoidance remains untested.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlcohol use disorder (AUD) is a significant global health issue. Despite historically higher rates among men, AUD prevalence and negative alcohol-related outcomes in women are rising. Loneliness in humans has been associated with increased alcohol use, and traditional rodent drinking models involve single housing, presenting challenges for studying social enrichment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlcohol use disorder (AUD) is a significant global health issue. Despite historically higher rates among men, AUD prevalence and negative alcohol-related outcomes in women are rising. Loneliness in humans has been associated with increased alcohol use, and traditional rodent drinking models involve single housing, presenting challenges for studying social enrichment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Visceral feedback from the body is often subconscious, but plays an important role in guiding motivated behaviors. Vagal sensory neurons relay "gut feelings" to noradrenergic (NA) neurons in the caudal nucleus of the solitary tract (cNTS), which in turn project to the anterior ventrolateral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (vlBNST) and other hypothalamic-limbic forebrain regions. Prior work supports a role for these circuits in modulating memory consolidation and extinction, but a potential role in retrieval of conditioned avoidance remains untested.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA crucial step for validating the utility of an immersive virtual reality (iVR) buffet to study eating behavior is to determine whether variations in food characteristics such as portion size (PS) are relevant predictors of food selection in an iVR buffet. We tested whether manipulating PS in an iVR buffet affects the weight of food selected, and whether this response to PS is similar to participants' measured intake when PS varies at laboratory meals. In a randomized crossover design, 91 adults (18-71 y; 64 females; BMI = 25.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFXanthophyll carotenoids (i.e., lutein and zeaxanthin) are plant pigments that selectively deposit in the macula of the eye and provide retinal tissue with protection against photooxidative stress.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: No studies to date have examined if macular xanthophyll accumulation and retinal integrity are independently associated with cognitive function in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS). This study explored whether macular xanthophyll accumulation and structural morphometry in the retina were associated with behavioral performance and neuroelectric function during a computerized cognitive task among persons with MS and healthy controls (HCs).
Methods: 42 HCs and 42 individuals with MS aged 18-64 years were enrolled.
The expanding literature investigating the cognitive effects of childhood weight status has not included examinations of incidental statistical learning, the process by which children unintentionally acquire knowledge about patterns in their environments, despite evidence that it underlies many higher-level information processing capabilities. In the present study, we measured event-related potentials (ERPs) while school-aged participants completed a variation of an oddball task in which stimuli predicted the appearance of a target. Children were asked to respond to the target but were not given any information about the existence of predictive dependencies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The prevalence of diabetes remains high, with traditional lifestyle interventions demonstrating limited success in improving diabetes-related outcomes, particularly among individuals with diabetes-related mental health comorbidities. Digital health interventions provide the ability to ease the sustained and rigorous self-management needs associated with diabetes care and treatment. Current interventions though, are plagued by small sample sizes, underpowered pilot studies, and immense heterogeneity in program intervention, duration, and measured outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To assess viewer engagement of a food advertising campaign on the live streaming platform Twitch.tv, a social media platform that allows creators to live stream content and communicate with their audience in real time.
Design: Observational analysis of chat comments across the Twitch platform containing the word 'Wendy's' or 'Wendys' during a 5-day ad campaign compared with two 5-day non-campaign time periods.
Introduction: Interoceptive feedback to the brain regarding the body's physiological state plays an important role in guiding motivated behaviors. For example, a state of negative energy balance tends to increase exploratory/food-seeking behaviors while reducing avoidance behaviors. We recently reported that overnight food deprivation reduces conditioned passive avoidance behavior in male (but not female) rats.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Several barriers to diabetes treatment and care exist, particularly in underserved medical communities.
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate a novel, culturally adapted, Spanish-language mHealth diabetes program for glycemic control.
Methods: Professional Spanish translators, linguists, and providers localized the entirety of the Vida Health Diabetes Management Program into a culturally relevant Spanish-language version.
Background: Most previous work has focused on a single-nutrient, bottom-up approach when examining the influence of diet on neurocognition. Thus, the impact of dietary patterns on cognitive health is underinvestigated.
Objectives: We aimed to investigate the relation between different diet indices [i.
Parental feeding practices in childhood have been shown to contribute to childhood eating habits, behaviors, and weight status. Less understood is the longitudinal impact of parental feeding practices on these variables in adulthood. Therefore, the aim of the present work was to validate a modified, brief, Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire (CFPQ) reformatted to account for retrospective recollections of parental feeding practices experienced in childhood among a sample of adults with obesity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Higher protein and fiber diets promote weight management and metabolic health.
Objectives: This study aimed to determine if greater weight loss and positive changes in metabolic outcomes could be achieved with twice-daily consumption of a high-protein and fiber-based multi-ingredient nutritional shake (HPF) compared with an isocaloric low-protein, lower fiber-based placebo (LPF).
Methods: Study procedures were conducted by an independent research organization under clinicaltrials.
Objective: To compare and evaluate the prevalence of food and beverage marketing on the livestreaming platforms Twitch, Facebook Gaming and YouTube Gaming, as well as examine growth of food and beverage marketing on these platforms over a 17-month period of data collection.
Design: Cross-sectional data were analysed across three livestreaming platforms and six food and beverage categories: alcohol, candy, energy drinks, snacks, sodas and restaurants.
Setting: Stream titles of livestreamed events as well as corresponding hours watched on Twitch, Facebook Gaming and YouTube Gaming.
Dietary intake is understood to contribute to nutrition impact symptoms (NIS) in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of four a priori-defined diet quality indices on the presence of NIS 1 year following diagnosis using data on 323 participants from the University of Michigan Head and Neck Specialized Program of Research Excellence (UM-SPORE). Pretreatment dietary intake was measured before treatment initiation using a food frequency questionnaire.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Although intake of Hass avocado has been cross-sectionally linked to lower abdominal obesity, knowledge of the effects of avocado consumption on abdominal adiposity and glycemic outcomes remains limited.
Objective: The effects of avocado consumption on abdominal adiposity, insulin resistance, oral-glucose-tolerance test (OGTT), and estimated β-cell function were evaluated.
Methods: A total of 105 adults aged 25-45 y (61% female) with BMI ≥25 kg/m2 were randomly assigned to an intervention (N = 53) that received a daily meal with 1 fresh Hass avocado or a control (N = 52) that received an isocaloric meal with similar ingredients without avocado for 12 wk.
Competing motivational drives coordinate behaviors essential for survival. For example, interoceptive feedback from the body during a state of negative energy balance serves to suppress anxiety-like behaviors and promote exploratory behaviors in rats. Results from past research suggest that this shift in motivated behavior is linked to reduced activation of specific neural populations within the caudal nucleus of the solitary tract (cNTS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExcessive sedentariness has been related to poorer cognitive control in adults. Sedentariness may compound obesity-related impairments in response inhibition, but its relationship to response inhibition remains poorly understood. This study investigated the relationship between accelerometer-measured sedentary time (ST, min/day), performance on the Oddball and NoGo tasks, N2 and P3-ERP indices of response inhibition and attentional control in 80 adults with overweight and obesity (55 females, M = 35.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElevated visceral adipose tissue (VAT) has been associated with cardiometabolic risk factors including chronic systemic low-grade inflammation. Whereas the cognitive implications of inflammation have been extensively studied in preclinical models, the influence of inflammatory cytokines on cognitive function in humans is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the relations among VAT, inflammatory cytokines, and cognitive control.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Breastfeeding is associated with healthier weight and nutrient status in early life. However, the impact of breastfeeding on carotenoid status beyond infancy, and the influence of adiposity, are unknown.
Objectives: The aim of the study was to retrospectively investigate the relation between breastfeeding and carotenoid status, and the mediating effect of weight status and adiposity on this relation, among school-age children.
Background/objectives: To assess the relationships between daily sedentary time (ST), prolonged ST, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and behavioral and neuroelectric indices of cognitive control in adults with overweight and obesity (OW/OB).
Subjects/methods: A cross-sectional design was used. Overall, 89 adults (BMI = 31.