Binge Eating (BE) and Obesity: Brain Activity and Psychological Measures before and after Roux-En-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB)

Abstract

Brain activity in response to food cues following Roux-En-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB) in binge eating (BE) or non-binge eating (NB) individuals is understudied. Here, 15 RYGB (8 BE; 7 NB) and 13 no treatment (NT) (7 BE; 6 NB) women with obesity underwent fMRI imaging while viewing high and low energy density food (HEF and LEF, respectively) and non-food (NF) visual cues. A region of interest (ROI) analysis compared BE participants to NB participants in those undergoing RYGB surgery pre-surgery and 4 months post. Results were corrected for multiple comparisons using liberal (p p p p p p p < 0.006) in response to HEF (vs. LEF). Results suggest distinct neural mechanisms of RGYB in BE and may help lead to improved clinical treatments.

Keywords

• fMRI
• bariatric surgery
• region of interest (ROI) analysis
• binge eating
• individuals with obesity