Analysis of functional brain food olfactory-gustatory stimuli: food models and salt content

Signals coming from the olfactory and taste stimuli converge in the brain where the sensory image of a food is created. With regards to what is happening in the brain, we study directly the construction of the sensory image. This approach informs us about the reactions of the subject, such as pleasure, decision making and, more generally, nutritional behaviour. We collaborate on this theme with the Food, Nutrition and Food Behaviour group at AgroParisTech.

We are fortunate to have, here in Clermont Ferrand, a high field MRI with few equals in France, for studying this particular brain food relationship in small animals; the high-resolution 117/16 Bruker imager available at the AgroResonance Platform, INRA Theix Centre. For human studies, we have access to a 3T MRI at the University Hospital (CHU). This instrument is shared equally between clinical analysis and research, coordinated by Dr Betty Jean at the CHU.

To study by MRI functional brain-food links, we have developed original methods of imaging and stimulation of the subject in MRI. During the same examination, we can see how each subject's brain is structured, and also study it from a functional perspective by measuring which brain regions respond to food stimuli. These regions form networks that we identify in terms of location and quantification of the intensity of the cerebral response.

The perspectives for these techniques have three distinct dimensions: (i) the food with, for example, coding for a salty sensation such as was investigated in the thesis of Juliana Iranpour; (ii) the subject with, for example, an understanding of the determinants of pleasurable value; and, (iii) nutritional behaviour.