Appetite最新文献

Non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) are increasingly used as low- or zero-calorie alternatives to sugar while maintaining sweetness. However, uncoupling sweet taste from caloric content may alter appetite regulation and promote food-seeking behavior, although the underlying neural mechanisms remain poorly understood. To address this, we conducted a systematic review in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched up to June 2025 using terms related to NNS, neuroimaging and appetite regulation. Of 137 screened records, 21 neuroimaging reports met predefined PICO-based eligibility criteria. Eligible reports included healthy adults across weight categories and examined artificial or naturally occurring NNS (e.g., sucralose, erythritol) compared with nutritive sweeteners (NS; e.g., sucrose) or non-sweet controls (e.g., water). Outcomes included appetite-related brain responses measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) or positron emission tomography (PET), as well as associations with gut hormones, glucose metabolism, and eating behavior. NNS and NS both engaged gustatory and reward-related brain regions, with some reports showing reduced activity and lower pleasantness ratings for NNS. Hypothalamic activity and functional connectivity were also modulated by NNS intake, with no observed associations between brain responses and gut hormones or glucose metabolism in the available reports. Overall, the evidence remains limited and varies by NNS type, dose, delivery method, habitual intake, sex, weight status, and metabolic state. Future studies should investigate acute and long-term NNS consumption under real-world conditions with greater ethnic and demographic diversity, accounting for individual variability to better inform dietary guidelines.

The brain's high energy demands are met by a suite of metabolic pathways that selectively appropriate glucose across development, yet how this metabolic strategy changes across the lifespan and whether it is conserved across species remains incompletely understood. We previously mapped five core energy metabolism pathways across the human cortex and lifespan, revealing a fundamental dichotomy between anabolic and energy-producing pathway expression: the pentose phosphate pathway, which contributes to biomass, peaks prenatally, while glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation rise postnatally. Here, we extend the analysis to the rhesus macaque and show that the prenatal-to-postnatal transition is similar across the two species. Using the MitoCarta3.0 annotation framework, we further identify two consistent mitochondria-specific programs: a progressive decline in mitochondrial genome maintenance pathways, and a postnatal rise in the expression of genes involved in mitochondrial energy production and substrate utilization, replicated across human and macaque. Extending to mouse, rat, and chicken, we find this shifting transcriptome-level metabolic strategy is a conserved feature of vertebrate brain development. Finally, we map the cortical expression of mitochondria-localized pathway genes in the adult human cortex, finding that the anabolic-oxidative dichotomy follows in the mature brain. Together, these findings provide a comparative transcriptomic reference for studying brain energy metabolism across the lifespan.