Research

Hormonal

Post-meal increases in plasma insulin and free fatty acids are negatively correlated with neuronal activity in the insular and orbitofrontal cortex (and anterior cingulate for FFA), suggesting these metabolic signals modulate postprandial brain activity.

The brain's response to eating is modulated by metabolic signals like insulin and free fatty acids. Higher levels of these markers after a meal are associated with reduced activity in brain areas linked to hunger processing (insula/orbitofrontal cortex).

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Changes in plasma insulin concentrations in response to the meal were negatively correlated with changes in rCBF in the insular and orbitofrontal cortex. Changes in plasma free fatty acid concentrations in response to the meal were negatively correlated with changes in rCBF in the anterior cingulate...
P. Antonio Tataranni et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 1999

Why this rating

Correlational data from a small sample size; causality is not proven, but the correlation is statistically significant for key regions.

Source

Neuroanatomical correlates of hunger and satiation in humans using positron emission tomography

P. Antonio Tataranni et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 1999

DOI 10.1073/pnas.96.8.4569

cross_sectional · n=11Cited 587×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →