High-fat/high-sugar diets rewire dopamine circuits to impact behaviour before the onset of weight gain

Dr. Dana Small presents “High-fat/high-sugar diets rewire dopamine circuits to impact behaviour before the onset of weight gain” at The Royal Society’s “Causes of Obesity: theories, conjectures, and evidence” 2022 meeting.

Abstract: Adaptive behaviour depends on the capacity to accurately predict future events. It is well established that the neurotransmitter dopamine plays a critical role in optimizing adaptive behaviour by encoding prediction errors during associative learning. Accordingly genetic variations that influence dopamine signalling confer risk for disorders characterized by disturbances in adaptive behaviour such as obesity and substance abuse. There is now also clear evidence from animal models that a diet high in fat and sugar can lead to altered dopamine signalling, even in the absence of weight gain or metabolic dysfunction. Using a short-term dietary intervention protocol coupled with functional magnetic resonance imaging in healthy weight individuals, the group provide evidence that such effects translate to humans. They also extend work in animals by showing that exposure to short term high-fat/high-sugar, energy-dense foods impacts dopamine-dependent prediction error encoding that underlies adaptive behaviour. Finally, using transgenic and viral-mediated strategies in the mouse model, they identify a candidate mechanism by which diet could alter dopamine signalling to impact behaviour and metabolism. Collectively, this work demonstrates that exposure to an energy-dense, high-fat/high-sugar diet in the absence of body weight or metabolic change, can rewire dopamine circuits to increase subsequent overeating and weight gain before the onset of changes in adiposity.

Watch the full talk here.

The Gut-Brain Axis and Behavior

These are select recordings from “The Gut-Brain Axis and Behavior” course taught by Dana Small and Ivan de Araujo at Yale in Fall 2021.

Course Description: All organisms must procure energy to survive. As such, many strategies have evolved to optimize the acquisition, use and storage of energy sources. Energetic value must be sensed, and costs determined and balanced against the physiological state of the organism and competing demands on behavior, such as seeking safety or showing aggression to secure a mate. To accomplish this, peripheral signals about acute and stored energy must be integrated with brain mechanisms regulating both metabolism and behavior. Until recently, metabolic and behavioral regulation were treated as operating relatively independently and often described as competing homeostatic and hedonic forces over behavior. However, this artificial boundary has begun to dissolve and with it the realization has emerged that mind and metabolism are highly integrated. More specifically, the biological imperative of optimal energy management results in metabolic signals having the potential to influence every facet of cognition, from basic perception to executive functioning, mood, affect and social interactions. Likewise, cognitive operations can directly impact metabolism, enabling organisms to bring all sources of information together in ensure optimal metabolic and behavioral “decision making”. 

Watch select lectures here.

Rethinking Food Reward: Integration of Mind and Metabolism

Dana Small presents the keynote address "Rethinking Food Reward: Integration of Mind and Metabolism," at the 32nd annual NEURON Conference, held at Quinnipiac University.

Watch the full address here.

Why Ultra-processed Food Makes You Eat More and Gain Weight: Research by Kevin Hall and Dana Small

Elaina Efird gives an overview of some fascinating new research done by Kevin Hall PhD at NIH showing that eating ultra-processed food makes us eat more and gain weight. She also discusses research by Dana Small PhD at Yale discussing why this happens.

Watch the full video here.