Complex neural systems in our brain and body signal to us when we are full after eating and play an important part in the control of appetite. How sensitive or responsive we are to these signals could affect our risk of becoming overweight or obese. Individual differences in responsiveness have been observed at a genetic, physiological and behavioural level and may be important to consider in strategies to prevent or treat obesity.
Dr Elanor Hinton, then at the NIHR Biomedical Research Unit in Nutrition (BRU) and the Clinical Research and Imaging Centre (CRICBristol), proposed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to seek novel insights into the brain’s control of satiety and how it relates to obesity.
An EBI Early Career Fellowship award enabled her to forge ahead with her research and use the pilot data as a basis for external funding applications. She also benefited from the support of two scientific mentors: Professor Andy Ness at BRU and the School of Oral and Dental Sciences; and Dr Jade Thai at CRICBristol.
Dr Hinton’s research objectives included examining responsiveness to satiety using neural, hormonal and behavioural measures, and determining whether people’s responsiveness could be enhanced through specific weight interventions and training.
Findings from one study showed that consuming certain proteins before a meal could increase feelings of fullness and reduce the amount of food people ate. Dr Hinton presented this data to the British Feeding and Drinking Group. She also set up a new collaboration with Dr Nina Balthasar at Bristol’s School of Physiology and Pharmacology to conduct further, more in depth studies using animal models. This produced promising pilot data and provided Dr Hinton with an excellent opportunity to work in a different lab and learn new techniques.
An fMRI study in adolescents with obesity showed that the brain’s response to food can alter over time, which may be associated with changes in weight or slowing eating behaviour. Dr Hinton presented the preliminary findings at the 2014 UK Congress on Obesity, the 2015 Early Career Neuroscientists Day run by GW4 (a research alliance between the universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter), and some of the final outcomes at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behaviour in 2016.
Within this programme of research, Dr Hinton supervised a further study by Dr Katherine Hawton who was awarded an EBI Clinical Primer fellowship, to see whether encouraging people to eat more slowly increased their feeling of fullness and reduced snacking. The study showed that eating more slowly was associated with consuming 25% less snacks, as well as greater understanding of the underlying physiological changes. Dr Hinton is planning to use the research findings to inform interventions designed to help people change their eating behaviour and to lose weight.
The EBI Fellowship award gave Dr Hinton the opportunity to apply for three external fellowship grants. Although none resulted in a funded fellowship, she successfully secured an interview with the Wellcome Trust and Royal Society for a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship Award. Her bid for a David Phillips Fellowship with the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council led to a new collaboration with Dr Nic Timpson at the University’s Integrative Epidemiology Unit to look at the effect of specific genetic variations on appetite control.
Dr Hinton is now acting lead of the Childhood disease workstream and public engagement lead for the new NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre: Nutrition Theme, which will run from 2017-2022. Dr Hinton is supervising a GW4 funded PhD student, and is continuing research into modifying eating behaviours for improved appetite control.