Brain controls eating behavior – How your brain divided mealtime
Brains Divide Meal Time
What if you have control over the quantity of food you consume every day? Isn’t that a superpower?
Well, Researchers from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) and the University of Cologne in Germany have found exactly that but in a mouse model.
The latest study on the mouse brain has identified a neurological relay race that shows the eating behavior dividing the brain into four distinct phases. This phase ensures that the animal consumes just the right amount of food- neither too much nor too little. While researchers don’t identify the exact physiological cues that explain each act. The finding hints at a complex interplay of balance between the reward and control that starts when food enters in a mouth and ends with the final bite.
The discovery may help in understanding eating behavior in humans and also in some cases of eating disorders and providing a new way for treatment.
Researchers from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) and the University of Cologne in Germany focused on neural firing rate in the brain’s lateral hypothalamus, a region that plays a key role in managing innate behavior like feeding, exploring, and socializing in both mice and humans.
The researcher identified four distinct sets of neurons that activate one after the other, Likely working as a checkpoint to regulate energy intake and signaling when it’s time to stop eating.
When we eat, we quickly switch from wanting food (appetitive behavior) to consuming food (consummatory behavior), says neuroscientist Alexey Ponomarenko from FAU. Still, the researcher didn’t fully understand how the brain controls the time of consumption phase. It should neither be too long nor too short to provide the right amount of energy.
Brain controls eating behavior – How your brain divided mealtime
The researcher used an artificial intelligence algorithm to monitor this, enabling them to monitor which neurons were active and when depending on readings taken from electrode implants. It thereby exposed critical neurons in the lateral hypothalamus that oscillated at frequencies dependent on the task at hand.
Four different groups of neurons firing in sequence have been identified through shared frequency, which helps their ability to share information while feeding. This suggests that the brain operates on various “channels” involved in food intake and communicate with each other at the same frequencies,” explains Ponomarenko.
“In contrast, the groups of neurons responsible for the other behavior, for example, exploring an environment or social interaction, prefer to communicate on a different channel.”
Feeding integrates varied cues, some that are ‘feel-good’ feelings that make us want to continue eating and others that make us know we’ve had enough. Researchers didn’t understand how different cues activated different sets of neurons. Still, they suspected they could accrue and transmit physiological information on the stomach capacity, blood glucose levels, and changes in the hunger hormone levels. Though this research was done in mice, it must be shown in humans. Still, similarities between mouse and human physiology mean that similar activity is likely going on in our own brains, letting us know when feeding time is and isn’t.
Moving forward, researchers want to whether this neuron relay race can be manipulated through light under a phenomenon known as optogenetics. This approach leads to further detailed reviews of the brain circuitry and may bring new insights into the mysteries of eating disorders-conditions that directly affect feeding activities every day.
“In mice, the oscillatory activity of neurons can be more directly manipulated by optogenetic manipulations,” notes Ponomarenko. This research could open doors for a deeper understanding of the neural mechanisms that underlie feeding behavior.
Now, imagine the same relay race works in the human brain. Researchers are uncovering new paths to help people who are struggling with their eating patterns, and this will also help doctors provide better treatment for disorders like obesity or anorexia.