# Sex Effects on the Neurobiology of Eating Behaviors in Veterans with Overweight/Obesity

> **NIH VA I01** · VA EASTERN COLORADO HEALTH CARE SYSTEM · 2024 · —

## Abstract

The rate of obesity is particularly high in U.S. Veterans, conferring a substantial health burden. Eating
behaviors are one possible target for obesity prevention and management. As such, understanding factors
impacting eating behaviors in Veterans will be an important step as obesity rates continue to rise. A key
obstacle in understanding these factors, however, is the current lack of understanding of sex-based differences
in eating behaviors. Sex-based differences in eating behaviors are consistently observed. For example, women
are more likely to diet than men, express greater concern about weight control, and attribute greater
importance to healthy eating. Women also report more behaviors associated with eating disorders, and have
higher rates of obesity. Differences in eating behaviors and obesity rates between men and women involve a
number of factors, such as gonadal hormones, social pressures and norms, and physical activity engagement.
These factors also interact with neuronal processes involved in eating behaviors. A clear understanding of sex-
based differences in neuronal mechanisms underlying food intake has yet to be established, however. The
goal of this proposal, therefore, is to better understand how sex differences impact the neurobiology of hedonic
eating behaviors. This is particularly relevant to Veterans' health, as women are the fastest-growing population
of Veterans receiving healthcare at the VA, with almost 2 million living women Veterans.
 Understanding sex-based differences in the neurobiology underlying food intake behaviors, and how
gonadal hormones contribute to these differences, will be important for developing novel treatment methods for
overweight/obesity and weight maintenance. Hedonic eating, or eating beyond homeostatic needs, may be
particularly associated with obesity. As such, identifying sex-based differences in neurobiology underlying
hedonic eating is of particular relevance. To this end, we recently completed a preliminary study investigating
sex-based differences in neuronal responses to foods with high (vs. neutral) hedonic value, in both fasted and
fed states. Sex-based differences were observed in the fasted state, with greater responses in women
compared to men in the nucleus accumbens and insula, brain regions with prominent roles in food-related
reward processing. This could indicate that women are more sensitive to salient and rewarding aspects of
hedonic foods than men when fasted. This was not observed when comparing foods to non-food objects, i.e., it
was specific to the comparison of hedonic to neutral foods, rather than foods as a whole.
 While these preliminary findings are provocative, many questions remain to be answered and issues
addressed. First, the sensitivity of the initial study was likely insufficient, given the relatively small sample size.
Additionally, women were all scanned in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle in the initial investigation.
Given that differences in...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10864922
- **Project number:** 5I01CX001949-05
- **Recipient organization:** VA EASTERN COLORADO HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
- **Principal Investigator:** Kristina T Legget
- **Activity code:** I01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-10-01 → 2024-09-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10864922

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10864922, Sex Effects on the Neurobiology of Eating Behaviors in Veterans with Overweight/Obesity (5I01CX001949-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10864922. Licensed CC0.

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