Research

Hormonal

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery reduces brain-hedonic responses to high-calorie foods compared to gastric banding (BAND) surgery, mediated by altered gut anatomy and increased anorexigenic hormones.

If you are considering bariatric surgery, understand that Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) works differently than gastric banding. RYGB not only restricts food intake but also changes gut hormones (GLP-1, PYY) that reduce the brain's reward response to high-calorie foods. This neurohormonal shift may contribute to better long-term weight loss and healthier eating habits compared to gastric banding. Discuss these specific hormonal mechanisms with your surgeon to make an informed choice.

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Obese patients after RYGB had lower brain-hedonic responses to food than patients after BAND surgery. RYGB patients had lower activation than BAND patients in brain reward systems, particularly to high-calorie foods, including the orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala, caudate nucleus, nucleus accumbens and hippocampus.
Samantha Scholtz et al. · Gut · 2013

Why this rating

High-quality observational study with fMRI, hormonal phenotyping, and behavioral measures, though cross-sectional and non-randomized.

Source

Obese patients after gastric bypass surgery have lower brain-hedonic responses to food than after gastric banding

Samantha Scholtz et al. · Gut · 2013

DOI 10.1136/gutjnl-2013-305008

cross_sectional · n=61Cited 284×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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