The brain’s role in human obesity

Abstract

The most common cause for obesity is a positive energy balance, i.e. more energy is being consumed than is expended. The rise in obesity rates cannot be explained on the basis of our obesogenic environment alone, because large interindividual differences in weight status exist between people. Therefore, the cause is most probably to be found in an interaction between individual behaviour and our changed environment. This warrants the investigation of the brain’s role in the devel­opment and maintenance of obesity that in­deed has become a growing field in the neu­rosciences. This article will give an overview about the findings in neuroimaging associ­ated with human obesity. Further, this article will elucidate the relationship between common genetic variation, eating behaviour and brain structure in the context of obesity. Finally, important open questions in the field will be summarised.