圖片摘自：mysantabarbaratherapy.com
2016年5月17日 訊 /生物谷BIOON/ --來自美國科羅拉多大學的研究人員近日通過研究發現，厭食症或肥胖女性或許對味道的反應並不相同，而這一研究或將幫助開發治療飲食失調的新型療法，相關研究刊登在了國際雜誌the International Journal of Eating Disorders上。
研究者Guido Frank博士指出，味道是驅動我們攝入食物的原動力，而其總是與腦島中不同的神經元模式直接相關，腦島是大腦中的初級味覺皮層；研究人員進行這項研究目的就是為了尋找是否異常的飲食習慣和大腦腦島區分味覺刺激體的改變直接相關。
文章中，研究人員對106名年齡相近的女性進行研究，當其品嘗糖水或無味道水溶液的時候研究者對參與者進行大腦掃描來研究大腦腦島區分不同味道的方式和機制。結果表明，相比對照個體而言，那些神經性厭食症或肥胖的個體往往很難區分出無味水和糖水；Frank說道，如果你不能區分出味道差異，那麼就會直接影響你的飲食方式，而同時這也會影響到大腦的獎懲迴路。
研究者指出，這些改變都發生在不同的水平之下，比如瘦素和其它激素會在肥胖和飲食障礙個體機體中發生改變，其會影響大腦對食物的反應，而與此同時，腦島識別味道能力的下降或許取決於大腦中特殊區域的結構改變，而這就會導致腦島中不同途徑的味覺信號處理過程被改變。
當個體的體重達到健康水平時這些問題都會解決，當然研究者表示，後期還需要進行更多深入的研究來揭示為何厭食症及肥胖個體對食物味覺的改變機制，本文研究結果對於後期開發治療飲食失調的新型策略提供了一定基礎和思路。（生物谷Bioon.com）
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Extremes of eating are associated with reduced neural taste discrimination
Guido K.W. Frank MD1,2,*, Megan E. Shott BS1, Carrie Keffler BS1 andMarc-Andre Cornier MD3
Objective Eating disorders are severe psychiatric disorders of unknown etiology. Understanding how neuronal function affects food choices could help personalize treatment based on brain function. Here we wanted to determine whether disordered eating behavior is associated with alterations in the primary taste cortex's ability to classify taste stimuli, which could interfere with taste reward processing. Method One-hundred and six women, 27 healthy comparison (age 26.15 ± 6.95 years), 21 with restricting-type anorexia nervosa (AN; age 23.10 ± 6.14 years), 19 recovered from restricting-type AN (recovered AN; age 26.95 ± 5.31 years), 20 with bulimia nervosa (BN; age 25.15 ± 5.31 years), and 19 with obesity (age 28.16 ± 8.13 years), received sucrose, control solution or no taste stimulation during functional magnetic resonance brain imaging. Multivariate Bayesian pattern analysis (decoding) and cross-validation tested taste classification accuracy (adjusted for comorbidity, medication use, taste perception, interoception, and brain activation volume). Results For sucrose versus control solution, classification accuracy differed (F = 2.53, p < 0.041). Post hoc tests indicated higher classification accuracy in healthy comparison compared to women with AN (p < 0.016) or obesity (p < 0.027), and in recovered AN as compared to AN (p < 0.016) or obesity (p < 0.047) groups. Taste stimulation resulted in sparse insula voxel activation across all groups. Discussion Reduced classification accuracy across stimuli in women with AN or obesity could indicate low brain encoding discrimination of stimulus quality, which could contribute to altered reward activation and eating drive that is not adjusted to nutritional needs. This deficit appears to normalize with recovery from AN, but adjusting food flavor intensity could aid in the treatment of individuals with AN or obesity.