When Calorie Content Is Included…

Seeing pictures of food with calorie information appears to change the way the brain responds to food. In this study, researchers recruited 42 undergraduate students to view food images with and without calorie information and then asked them to rate their desire to eat the food while in a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner (fMRI). The research team observed that when presented with data on a food’s nutritional value, participants found the item less appetizing and they had a corresponding reduction of activity in the areas of the brain associated with satiety, desire, and inhibition. PLOS ONE, December 2018