Functional foods may contribute to establish healthy eating habits and reduce obesity and related comorbidities. Differences in the brain mechanisms underpinning the valuation of functional foods in individuals with excess weight may inform the development of attractive functional foods. We aimed to compare brain function during the Willingness to Pay task for functional vs standard foods between individuals with healthy weight (HW), overweight (OW), and obesity (OB). We hypothesized that, in participants with OB, willingness to pay for functional foods would evoke greater activation/connectivity in brain regions previously associated with subjective value. Thirty-six HW, 19 OW, and 20 OB adults performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging-Willingness to Pay task that requires them to decide how much they would pay for presented standard and functional food images tasted in a previous buffet. Whole-brain analyses compared task-related activation and connectivity between participants with OB, OW, and HW. Individuals with OB, relative to HW, showed more similar willingness to pay for functional and standard food. At the brain level, they also showed hyperactivation in the ventral posterior cingulate cortex and the right angular gyrus, as well as an increased functional connectivity between the ventral posterior cingulate cortex and the intraparietal cortices to the valuation of the functional vs the standard foods. Increased willingness to pay for functional foods in people with excessive weight may be driven by recruitment of brain regions that direct attention to internal goals.

中文翻译：

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瘦和肥胖个体对功能性食品的神经评估

功能性食品可能有助于建立健康的饮食习惯并减少肥胖和相关的合并症。支持超重个体功能性食品估值的大脑机制的差异可能为有吸引力的功能性食品的开发提供信息。我们旨在比较健康体重 (HW)、超重 (OW) 和肥胖 (OB) 个体在功能性食品与标准食品的支付意愿任务期间的大脑功能。我们假设，在患有 OB 的参与者中，愿意为功能性食品付费会在以前与主观价值相关的大脑区域中唤起更大的激活/连通性。36 个硬件，19 个 OW，和 20 名 OB 成年人执行了一项功能性磁共振成像 - 支付意愿任务，该任务要求他们决定为之前自助餐中所呈现的标准和功能性食物图像支付多少费用。全脑分析比较了具有 OB、OW 和 HW 的参与者之间与任务相关的激活和连接。与 HW 相比，患有 OB 的个体表现出更相似的支付功能性和标准食品的意愿。在大脑水平上，他们还显示出腹侧后扣带回皮层和右角回的过度激活，以及腹侧后扣带回皮层和顶内皮层之间的功能连接增加，以评估功能与标准食物的价值。