Weight loss linked with active self-control

A new research has suggested that higher-level brain functions play a major role in losing weight.

In the study among 24 participants at a weight-loss clinic, those who achieved the greatest success in terms of weight loss demonstrated more activity in the brain regions of the lateral prefrontal cortex associated with self-control. The results of the study were published in the Journal of Cell Metabolism.

"What we found is that in humans, the control of body weight is dependent largely on the areas of the brain involved in self-control and self-regulation. That area of the brain has the ability to take into account long-term information, such as the desire to be healthy, in order to control immediate desires," said Alain Dagher of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital in Canada.

Two hormones, leptin and ghrelin, are known to trigger the body to eat in a weight-loss setting. Previous research confirms that these hormone levels change rapidly when weight is shed.

"Everybody who loses weight sees this change in leptin and ghrelin. It is just that some people, for reasons we do not know, are able to maintain their self-regulation in the face of that signal," added Dagher. How to control your self

To assess the roles these hormones and self-control have in achieving weight loss, the researchers studied 24 subjects from a weight-loss clinic. Prior to starting a standard 1,200 kcal/day weight-loss diet, all participants received a functional MRI study (fMRI) of the brain, which assessed regions including the lateral prefrontal cortex, which is linked with self-regulation, and the ventral medial prefrontal cortex, a brain area involved in motivation, desire, and value. Read Complete Article