- Researchers report that associative learning impairments caused by obesity can be restored with liraglutide, an anti-obesity medication.
- After just one dose, researchers said study participants with obesity showed no impairment compared to a group of non-obese participants.
- They said that means the drug not only treats obesity by stimulating insulin production, it also can help by boosting associative learning, which in turn can improve motivation.
New research indicates that interventions aimed at curbing obesity also carry the added effect of improving the brain’s ability to learn – after just one dose.
The work was carried out by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research in Cologne, Germany, and supported by funding from the University of Cologne and the University Hospital of Cologne.
The findings were published today in the journal Nature Metabolism.
Marc Tittgemeyer, a neuroscientist at the Max Planck Institute, led the study. He told Medical News Today that since the same drug used to treat obesity can also boost associative learning, it has a two-in-one effect: treating obesity directly as well as improving the neural pathways that can help people consciously lose weight.
“Interestingly, modern obesity treatment can normalize the learning of associations, thereby rendering people being susceptible again for sensory signals and, hence, being prone again to react to more subliminal interaction, such as weight-normalizing diets and conscious eating,” he explained.
Researchers sought to determine whether impaired insulin sensitivity – a condition common in people with weight issues in which the body’s cells fail to respond normally to insulin – could also impact dopamine function in the brain, which could in turn impair the brain’s ability to learn via sensory association.
They studied two groups: one consisting of volunteers with normal weight and high insulin sensitivity and the other consisting of people with obesity who also…
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