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Brain dopamine responses to ultra-processed milkshakes are highly variable and not significantly related to adiposity in humans (2024)

Ultra-processed foods high in fat and sugar may be addictive, in part, due to their purported ability to induce an exaggerated postingestive brain dopamine response akin to drugs of abuse. Using standard [11C]raclopride positron emission tomography (PET) displacement methods used to measure brain dopamine responses to addictive drugs, we measured postingestive striatal dopamine responses to an ultra-processed milkshake high in fat and sugar in 50 young, healthy adults over a wide body mass index range (BMI 20-45 kg/m2). Surprisingly, milkshake consumption did not result in significant postingestive dopamine response in the striatum ( p =0.62) nor any striatal subregion (p>0.33) and the highly variable interindividual responses were not significantly related to adiposity (BMI: r =0.076, p =0.51; %body fat: r =0.16, p =0.28). Thus, postingestive striatal dopamine responses to an ultra-processed milkshake were likely substantially smaller than many addictive drugs and below the limits of detection using standard PET methods. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: [NCT03648892][1] ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Clinical Trial NCT03648892 ### Funding Statement This study was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and by the NIH Center on Compulsive Behaviors via the NIH Shared Resource Subcommittee. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: IRB of The National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases gave ethical approval for this work. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors [1]: /lookup/external-ref?link_type=CLINTRIALGOV&access_num=NCT03648892&atom=%2Fmedrxiv%2Fearly%2F2024%2F06%2F25%2F2024.06.24.24309440.atom

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