Journal article
Weight Suppression, Brain Reward Response to Food Cues, and Bulimic Behaviours: A Pilot fMRI Study
European eating disorders review, Forthcoming
09 May 2026
PMID: 42104912
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Abstract
Weight suppression (WS), the difference between one's highest past and current weights, may maintain bulimia nervosa (BN) by altering brain response to food rewards. We tested this hypothesis in a sample of women with BN who completed a food‐reward paradigm, consisting of anticipatory and consummatory conditions, while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. We found that higher WS associated with elevated caudate response to food consumption, as well as more severe BN behaviours (i.e., restriction, binge‐eating, and self‐induced vomiting). However, BN behaviours did not associate with brain activation during either anticipation or consumption of food. Because BN behaviours did not associate with brain activation, the precise mechanism by which WS maintains BN remains unclear. Our small sample size may have limited our ability to detect a three‐way correlation; therefore, we encourage replication in adequately powered samples.
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Details
- Title
- Weight Suppression, Brain Reward Response to Food Cues, and Bulimic Behaviours: A Pilot fMRI Study
- Creators
- Simar Singh (Corresponding Author) - University of California, San FranciscoKanchana Jagannathan - University of PennsylvaniaAnna Rose Childress - University of PennsylvaniaMichael R. Lowe - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- European eating disorders review, Forthcoming
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Number of pages
- 8
- Grant note
- National Institute of Mental Health: R01MH103419
Data was collected as part of an NIMH-funded grant (R01MH103419) conducted at Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania. All subjects gave informed consent for inclusion before participating in the study. The study was conducted following the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol was approved by the Drexel University institutional review board (IRB ID: 1411003214).
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences (Psychology)
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001761174700001
- Other Identifier
- 991022179442604721