fMRI Food Cue Reactivity as a Predictor for BMI Change Following Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB) or Diet Intervention

Prevalence of severe obesity continues to increase, with only bariatric surgery showing long-term efficacy for sustained weight loss. Individuals with severe obesity (vs normal weight) show greater fMRI responsivity to high energy dense (ED) vs low ED food cues and reduced responsivity post-surgery. We examined responsivity to high vs low ED cues pre-intervention in association with postsurgical (RYGB) or dietary weight-loss (dWL) change in BMI at 4 and 18 mo. Region of interest (ROI) analysis employed separate ANCOVA models; group as single factor with three levels and baseline activation and interaction with group covarying for age and gender as nuisance covariates. Significant results were identified at p < 0.1 false discovery rate (FDR) corrected, following multiple comparisons across ROIs. In the precentral gyrus (motor and motor readiness area), higher baseline activation was associated with greater %BMI reduction in RYGB at 4 and 18 mo and less %BMI reduction in dWL at 4 mo (p = 0.006 uncorrected, P < 0.1 FDR corrected). The findings show opposite directionality in predicting change in BMI for RYGB vs. dWL from responsivity to high vs low ED food cues in the precentral gyrus. Greater baseline motor planning to ingest high ED foods may be associated with reduced weight loss in dWL, and with greater weight loss in RYGB due to neuromodulatory effects of surgery.