# The impact of obesity on cerebral energetics

> **NIH NIH R03** · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $83,750

## Abstract

Project summary
There is a growing body of evidence that obesity is associated with reduced cerebral metabolism; however, the
underlying mechanisms and the functional clinical implications of these observations remain unclear. The
central goal of this project is to investigate a finding we have recently made that obesity is associated with
decreased transport capacity for glucose across the blood-brain barrier. This proposal uses state of the art
neuroimaging technology coupled with classic human metabolic phenotyping methodologies to investigate the
underlying mechanisms behind how the brain is impacted by obesity. Because the brain is exquisitely sensitive
to circulating glucose levels, the findings from this proposed study will help clarify how diminished brain
glucose transport in obesity may lead to diminished post-prandial satiety signaling and/or be a potential
mechanism for the neurocognitive consequences of obesity. The proposed studies in this R03 proposal will lay
the foundation for future studies targeting brain glucose transport and metabolism alterations to treat and
prevent the central nervous system complications of obesity.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9892003
- **Project number:** 5R03DK121048-02
- **Recipient organization:** YALE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Janice Jin Hwang
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $83,750
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-01 → 2022-03-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9892003

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9892003, The impact of obesity on cerebral energetics (5R03DK121048-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9892003. Licensed CC0.

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