Loss of control eating in children is associated with altered cortical and subcortical brain structure

Alaina L Pearce; Bari Fuchs; Shana Adise; Travis D Masterson; Nicole Fearnbach; Laural English; Kathleen L Keller

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1237591

Loss of control eating in children is associated with altered cortical and subcortical brain structure

Front Psychol. 2024 Jan 11:14:1237591. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1237591. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Alaina L Pearce¹, Bari Fuchs¹, Shana Adise², Travis D Masterson¹, Nicole Fearnbach³, Laural English⁴, Kathleen L Keller^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nutritional Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States.
² Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
³ Department of Health and Life Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States.
⁴ United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, United States.
⁵ Department of Food Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States.

Abstract

Introduction: Loss of control (LOC) eating is the perceived inability to control how much is eaten, regardless of actual amount consumed. Childhood LOC-eating is a risk factor for the development of binge-eating disorder (BED), but its neurobiological basis is poorly understood. Studies in children with BED have shown both increased gray matter volume in regions related to top-down cognitive control (e.g., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and reward-related decision making (e.g., orbital frontal cortex) relative to healthy controls. However, no studies have examined brain structure in children with LOC-eating. To identify potential neurobiological precursors of BED, we conducted secondary analysis of five studies that conducted T1 MPRAGE scans.

Methods: A total of 143, 7-12-year-old children (M = 8.9 years, 70 boys) were included in the study, 26% of which (n = 37) reported LOC-eating (semi-structured interview). Age, sex, and obesity status did not differ by LOC-eating. Differences between children with and without LOC were examined for gray matter volume, cortical thickness, gyrification, sulci depth, and cortical complexity after adjusting for age, sex, total intercranial volume, weight status, and study.

Results: Children with LOC, relative to those without, had greater gray matter volume in right orbital frontal cortex but lower gray matter volume in right parahippocampal gyrus, left CA4/dentate gyrus, and left cerebellar lobule VI. While there were no differences in cortical thickness or gyrification, children with LOC-eating had great sulci depth in left anterior cingulate cortex and cuneus and greater cortical complexity in right insular cortex.

Discussion: Together, this indicates that children with LOC-eating have structural differences in regions related to cognitive control, reward-related decision-making, and regulation of eating behaviors.

Keywords: MRI; children; gray matter volume; loss of control-eating; surface morphology.

Abstract

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