title: Sleep restriction increases the neuronal response to unhealthy food in normal-weight individuals.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sleep restriction alters responses to food. However, the underlying neural mechanisms for this effect are not well understood.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a neural system that is preferentially activated in response to unhealthy compared with healthy foods.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-five normal-weight individuals, who normally slept 7-9 h per night, completed both phases of this randomized controlled study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Each participant was tested after a period of five nights of either 4 or 9 h in bed. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed in the fasted state, presenting healthy and unhealthy food stimuli and objects in a block design. Neuronal responses to unhealthy, relative to healthy food stimuli after each sleep period were assessed and compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After a period of restricted sleep, viewing unhealthy foods led to greater activation in the superior and middle temporal gyri, middle and superior frontal gyri, left inferior parietal lobule, orbitofrontal cortex, and right insula compared with healthy foods. These same stimuli presented after a period of habitual sleep did not produce marked activity patterns specific to unhealthy foods. Further, food intake during restricted sleep increased in association with a relative decrease in brain oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) activity observed in the right insula.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This inverse relationship between insula activity and food intake and enhanced activation in brain reward and food-sensitive centers in response to unhealthy foods provides a model of neuronal mechanisms relating short sleep duration to obesity.
authors.affiliation: 1] Institute of Human Nutrition, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA [2] New York Obesity Nutrition Research Center, St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: M-P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: St-Onge
authors.affiliation: 1] Institute of Human Nutrition, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA [2] New York Obesity Nutrition Research Center, St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wolfe
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, fMRI Research Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sy
authors.affiliation: 1] Institute of Human Nutrition, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA [2] New York Obesity Nutrition Research Center, St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shechter
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Radiology, fMRI Research Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA [2] Departments of Neuroscience and Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hirsch
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001066:Appetite / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003463:Cues; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology*; D005215:Fasting; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D006815:Hunger / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012201:Reward; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000503:physiopathology*