Other research findings being discussed at the meeting show:

There is considerable evidence that body weight and fat mass are highly heritable traits and have strong genetic determinants. This offers the potential to identify specific brain-derived factors contributing to obesity, eating behavior, and responses to food (Sadaf Farooqi, PhD, see attached speaker's summary).

"The brain is the foundation of all behavior, including eating," said press conference moderator Ralph DiLeone, PhD, of Yale University School of Medicine, an expert on the neural mechanisms of food intake and behavior. "With the growing rates of obesity in industrialized nations, brain research is important to understanding the underlying neurobiological responses to high-fat diet."

Source: Society for Neuroscience