title: Acute sleep deprivation enhances the brain's response to hedonic food stimuli: an fMRI study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is growing recognition that a large number of individuals living in Western society are chronically sleep deprived. Sleep deprivation is associated with an increase in food consumption and appetite. However, the brain regions that are most susceptible to sleep deprivation-induced changes when processing food stimuli are unknown.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Our objective was to examine brain activation after sleep and sleep deprivation in response to images of food.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve normal-weight male subjects were examined on two sessions in a counterbalanced fashion: after one night of total sleep deprivation and one night of sleep. On the morning after either total sleep deprivation or sleep, neural activation was measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging in a block design alternating between high- and low-calorie food items. Hunger ratings and morning fasting plasma glucose concentrations were assessed before the scan, as were appetite ratings in response to food images after the scan.
  
  
  METHODS
  Compared with sleep, total sleep deprivation was associated with an increased activation in the right anterior cingulate cortex in response to food images, independent of calorie content and prescan hunger ratings. Relative to the postsleep condition, in the total sleep deprivation condition, the activation in the anterior cingulate cortex evoked by foods correlated positively with postscan subjective appetite ratings. Self-reported hunger after the nocturnal vigil was enhanced, but importantly, no change in fasting plasma glucose concentration was found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results provide evidence that acute sleep loss enhances hedonic stimulus processing in the brain underlying the drive to consume food, independent of plasma glucose levels. These findings highlight a potentially important mechanism contributing to the growing levels of obesity in Western society.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Uppsala University, Box 593, SE-751 24 Uppsala, Sweden. christian.benedict@neuro.uu.se
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Benedict
authors.forename: Samantha J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Brooks
authors.forename: Owen G
authors.initials: OG
authors.lastname: O'Daly
authors.forename: Markus S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Almèn
authors.forename: Arvid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morell
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Åberg
authors.forename: Malin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gingnell
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schultes
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hallschmid
authors.forename: Jan-Erik
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Broman
authors.forename: Elna-Marie
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Larsson
authors.forename: Helgi B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Schiöth
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001066:Appetite / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D006815:Hunger / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012201:Reward; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000503:physiopathology*