Marci E. Gluck

• PhD
• Senior Researcher at National Institutes of Health/NIDDK

Background The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted global mental health, leading to increased levels of fear, stress, and anxiety [1]. Previous research has suggested associations between functional fear of detrimental mental health outcomes and psychological stressors which may drive maladaptive eating behaviors. This study explored the assoc...

Major depressive disorder (MDD) and obesity have a complex bidirectional relationship. However, most studies do not assess increased appetite or weight as a depressive symptom due to limitations in rating scales. Here we aimed to analyze frequently employed depressive-symptom scales and discuss the relevance of weight and appetite assessment items....

Abstract Objectives: Transcranial direct stimulation (tDCS) targeted to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) reduces food intake and hunger, but its effects on circulating factors are unclear. We assessed the effect of repeated administration of tDCS to the left DLPFC (L-DLPFC) on concentrations of pro/anti-inflammatory and appetitive hormone...

Objective The objective of this study was to study how acid accumulation (lower plasma bicarbonate and higher anion gap [AG] and corrected anion gap [CAG]) correlates with metabolic parameters, food intake, and 24‐h energy expenditure (EE). Methods Acid accumulation was measured in 286 healthy adults with estimated glomerular filtration rate > 60...

We examined whether perceived stress, anhedonia, and food insecurity were associated with dietary adherence during a 6-week intervention. Sixty participants (23 m; 53 ± 14 y) completed psychosocial measures and were provided with full meals. Individuals with obesity were randomized to a weight-maintaining energy needs (WMENs) (n = 18; BMI 33 ± 4) o...

Obesity rates are increasing and affecting mental health. It is important to understand how behavioral traits such as anhedonia are associated with physiologic traits that may predict weight-change in clinical and non-clinical populations. We studied whether 24-hour energy expenditure (24hEE) changes with fasting and overfeeding are associated with...

Obesity is increasing at an alarming rate. The effectiveness of currently available strategies for the treatment of obesity (including pharmacologic, surgical and behavioral interventions) are limited. Understanding the neurobiology of appetite and the important drivers of energy intake can lead to the development of more effective strategies for t...

Background/Objectives: Lower birthweight has been previously identified as a risk factor for multiple chronic diseases which are also associated with poor diet. We sought to determine whether birthweight is related to objectively measured energy intake in adulthood. We hypothesized a negative association between birthweight and overall energy intak...

Physiological systems controlling water and energy ingestion are coordinated. Whether maladaptive eating behavior and appetite for water are linked is unknown. Thus, we sought to investigate the association between maladaptive eating and both thirst and water drinking behavior with two dehydrating conditions. Twenty-two lean men and 20 men with obe...

Objective: Reduced dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) activity and inhibitory control may contribute to obesity. The study objective was to assess effects of repeated transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on food Go/No-Go (GNG), food Stroop performance, and snack food intake. Methods: Twenty-nine individuals with obesity (12 male; m...

Objective: Physiological systems responsible for water homeostasis and energy metabolism are interconnected. This study hypothesized altered responses to dehydration including thirst, ad libitum water intake, and copeptin in men with obesity. Methods: Forty-two men (22 lean and 20 with obesity) were stimulated by a 2-hour hypertonic saline infus...

Objective Food insecurity is known to be associated with obesity, but its association with physiological measures is unclear. Therefore, it was hypothesized that, compared with food-secure individuals, those with food insecurity would have higher 24-hour energy expenditure (EE [kilocalories per day]) and 24-hour respiratory quotient (RQ [ratio]). S...

Objective Negative affect and food insecurity have been proposed to impede adherence to weight loss interventions. Therefore, this study examined the role of these variables on dietary adherence using Ecological Momentary Assessment. Methods A total of 50 participants (19 male participants; age = 49 [SD 14] years) participated in an outpatient die...

Objective: Fidgeting, a type of spontaneous physical activity (SPA), has substantial thermogenic potential. This research aims to examine secular trends in SPA and energy expenditure (EE) inside a respiratory chamber. Methods: From 1985 to 2005, healthy adults (n = 678; mean age: 28.8 years; men: 60%; 522 Indigenous American, 129 White, and 27 B...

Background Theory posits that macronutrient intake is regulated by protein consumption and adequate intake of protein results in consumption of less carbohydrates and fat. The current study investigates the effect of protein intake on calorie and macronutrient content using an ad libitum vending machine paradigm. Methods Healthy volunteers (n = 28...

Nighttime eating (NE) behavior has a genetic component and predicts weight gain. We hypothesized that some genetic variants, which affect NE would also show an effect on body mass index (BMI). We aimed to determine which known BMI variants associate with NE in Southwestern American Indians (SWAIs), who are at elevated risk for obesity. Known BMI va...

Objective Weight stigma is associated with poor dietary adherence, yet adherence is essential for weight loss and maintenance. This study aimed to determine differences in dietary adherence and perceived hunger between lean individuals and two groups of individuals with obesity. Methods In a 6‐week outpatient dietary intervention (23 males; aged 4...

Purpose of review: Appetitive behaviors are mediated through homeostatic and reward signaling of brain circuits. There has been increasing interest in the use of neuromodulation techniques aimed at targeting brain regions such as the lateral prefrontal and subcortical regions associated with dysregulation of eating behaviors. Recent findings: In...

Background: Higher energy expenditure (EE) is associated with greater food intake, possibly because the human body senses EE and modifies eating behaviors to regulate food intake and ultimately achieve energy balance. As eating behaviors are also influenced by social and cultural factors, any association between EE and eating behavior may differ b...

Objective The association between food insecurity and obesity may be partially explained by overeating in response to unpredictable food availability cycles. The aim of this study was to measure objective food intake in food‐insecure individuals. Methods Eighty‐two volunteers (53 m; BMI 29 ± 7; 38 ± 12 years) were admitted to our inpatient Clinica...

Objective: Executive function impairments and depression are associated with obesity but whether they predict weight gain is unclear. Methods: Forty-six individuals (35m, 37±10y) completed the Stroop Task, Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST), Inventory for Depressive Symptomatology (IDS-SR), Physical Anhedonia Scale (PAS...

Purpose of review: Obesity is a chronic illness and its prevalence is growing worldwide and numerous factors play a role in the regulation of food intake. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is involved in high-order executive function, regulation of limbic reward regions, and the inhibition of impulsive behaviors. Understanding the role of the PFC in the...

Mood disorders may influence decision making in individuals with greater adiposity. The authors hypothesized that individuals with obesity with a high level of anhedonia have poorer decision making abilities, measured by performance on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Data from 116 obese (≥30 kg/m2) individuals (50 men/66 women; 34 years ±9) completed...

Background: Obesity is associated with reduced activation in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a region of the brain that plays a key role in the support of self-regulatory aspects of eating behavior and inhibitory control. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive technique used to modulate brain activity.Objec...

Elevated body mass index and post-prandial state are associated with disadvantageous choices on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Whether physiological factors including percent body fat, and peripheral glucose, insulin, and leptin concentrations, are associated with IGT performance is unknown. In196 healthy adults without diabetes, we measured body fa...

Objective: Perceived stress; emotional eating; anhedonia; depression and dietary restraint, hunger, and disinhibition have been studied as risk factors for obesity. However, the majority of studies have been cross-sectional and the directionality of these relationships remains unclear. In this longitudinal study, we assess their impact on future w...

Objective Obesity is associated with decreased activity in the prefrontal cortex. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) modifies cortical excitability and may facilitate improved control of eating. The energy intake (EI) and body weight in subjects who received cathodal versus sham (study 1) and subsequent anodal versus sham (study 2) tDCS...

Background: Anodal TDCS may increase prefrontal cortex activity, which is implicated in addictions and obesity. We compared energy intake (EI) and weight change in participants who received active (cathodal) vs. sham TDCS (study 1) and subsequent active (anodal) vs. sham TDCS (study 2) to the left DLPFC. Methods: Nine (3m,6f) healthy obese voluntee...

Objective: Predicting outcome in weight loss trials from baseline characteristics has proved difficult. Readiness to change is typically measured by self-report. Methods: Performance of a behavioral task, completion of food records, from the screening period in the Look AHEAD study (n = 549 at four clinical centers) was assessed. Completeness of...

Night eating syndrome (NES) has recently been getting more attention as a recognized eating disorder. NES is characterized by a delay in the circadian pattern of food intake, associated with morning anorexia, evening hyperphagia, awakenings from sleep with ingestion of food, depressed mood, and obesity. Although the behavioral characteristics of NE...

Objective Ghrelin, a peptide hormone secreted mainly by the stomach, increases appetite and food intake. Surprisingly, ghrelin levels are lower in obese individuals with binge eating disorder (BED) than in obese non-BED individuals. Acute psychological stress has been shown to raise ghrelin levels in animals and humans. Our aim was to assess ghreli...

Objective To explore appetite-related hormones following stress in overweight individuals, and their interaction with Night Eating (NE) status. Method We measured plasma cortisol and ghrelin concentrations, and recorded ratings of stress and hunger in response to a physiological laboratory stressor (Cold Pressor Test, CPT) in overweight women with...

We have previously shown that a higher 24-h respiratory quotient (24-h RQ) predicts greater ad-libitum food intake and that nighttime eaters (NE) ingested more calories during an in-patient food intake study and gained more weight over time. We investigated whether 24-h RQ was higher in individuals who exhibited nighttime eating behavior. Healthy n...

This chapter will outline the role of appetite- and obesity-related hormones, including ghrelin, peptide YY, glucagon-like peptide 1, cholecystokinin and leptin, in the development, maintenance and co-morbidities of obesity. The focus will be on literature from clinical studies in obese and normal-weight adult humans, but the smaller number of stud...

The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (LDLPFC), which includes the inferior (IFG), middle (MFG), and superior (SFG) frontal gyri, has been implicated in satiation. Using a voxel-based approach, we previously identified an LDLPFC region (as reported as peak voxel) in which a reduced neuronal response to a meal was associated with obesity. In this...

To propose criteria for diagnosis of the night eating syndrome (NES). An international research meeting was held in April 2008, and consensus criteria for NES diagnosis were determined. The core criterion is an abnormally increased food intake in the evening and nighttime, manifested by (1) consumption of at least 25% of intake after the evening me...

Criteria for inclusion of diagnoses of Axis I disorders in the forthcoming Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V) of the American Psychiatric Association are being considered. The 5 criteria that were proposed by Blashfield et al as necessary for inclusion in DSM-IV are reviewed and are met by the night eating syndrome (NES). Seventy-seven publi...

The relationship between Islamic veiling, body dissatisfaction, and desire for cosmetic rhinoplasty (CR) has not been studied. We therefore compared body dissatisfaction (BD), depression, self-esteem, and prevalence and desire to have CR in 1,771 Iranian females. A battery of questionnaires was administered and participants were categorized into th...

Offspring of women with diabetes during pregnancy are at increased risk of accelerated weight gain and diabetes, effects partly mediated by the in utero environment. Whether differences in energy intake can explain this increased risk is unknown. We compared diet composition, eating patterns, and physiological responses to a mixed meal in 63 nondia...

Binge eating (BE) is common in overweight and obese individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus, but little is known about how BE affects weight loss in this population. To determine whether BE was related to 1-year weight losses in overweight and obese individuals with type 2 diabetes participating in an ongoing clinical trial. The Look AHEAD (Actio...

Night Eating Syndrome is a common disorder in severely obese individuals and may be associated with hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation. This study compared night eaters (NE) and comparably obese controls (C) pre- and post-Roux-en- Y Gastric Bypass surgery at 2 and 5 months, following an overnight fast on hormonal measures assoc...

Nighttime food intake has rarely been studied in inpatient settings and only one study observed a relation between self-reported nighttime eating and weight gain. We investigated the prevalence of nighttime eating and its effect on weight change. Healthy nondiabetic Pima Indians (n = 117; 67 M, 50 F) and whites (n = 43; 29 M, 13 F) were admitted to...

BED is characterized by overeating with a loss of control. The primary aim of the study was to measure plasma concentrations of three key gut peptides influencing hunger (ghrelin) and satiety (PYY, GLP-1) to ascertain potential abnormalities in BED. The participants were 10 obese BED and 9 obese nonBED premenopausal women. They did not differ in ag...

Factors associated with the development of eating disorders in countries with non-Western cultures have not been adequately investigated in relation to Westernized countries. We therefore studied 243 girls [age =16.5+/-1.2 (SD)], recruited from schools in India, Tibet, the US and France. They completed the Figure Rating Scale (FRS), the Eating Atti...

Studies have linked increased impulsivity and compulsivity with bulimia nervosa (BN). Less is known about this relationship in binge eating disorder (BED). Seventy-nine overweight participants (28 male, 65 females) were classified as BED (n = 22), BE (Subthreshold BED, not meeting full criteria for BED) (n = 21), and non-BED (n = 36). Following an...

The publisher regrets that this article is an accidental duplication of an article that has already been published, doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2006.03.001 . The duplicate article has therefore been withdrawn.

In clinical practice, obese patients report stress as a primary trigger for binge eating. However, the biological mechanism underlying this relationship is poorly understood. This paper presents, a theoretical overview of how cortisol secretion, a major component of the stress response, could play a role in binge eating, given that exogenous glucoc...

Binge-eating disorder (BED), characterized by binge meals without purging afterward, is found in about 30% of obese individuals seeking treatment. The study objective was to ascertain abnormalities in hormones influencing appetite in BED, especially ghrelin, an appetite-stimulating peptide, which was expected to be elevated. Measurements were made...

Stress is the most commonly reported trigger of binge eating, and high cortisol levels are positively related to both central body fat and food intake after laboratory stress. We therefore examined waist circumference (WHR) and cortisol stress responsivity after a cold pressor stress test (CPT) in 22 obese (BMI > 27) women (11 BED, 11 non-BED). BMI...

Greater impulsivity has been observed in those with chemical (cocaine, marijuana, alcohol) and behavioral addictions (gambling, sex, shopping), as well as in individuals with personality and conduct disorders. Greater impulsivity has also been described in those with Bulimia Nervosa and attributed to aberrations in serotonin, as has eating in respo...

Increased basal cortisol levels have been found in bulimia nervosa. After stress, increased cortisol levels have been associated with increased food intake in healthy women. Therefore, we assessed cortisol, hunger, and desire to binge eat after a cold pressor test (CPT) among women with binge eating disorder (BED). Twenty-two obese (body mass index...

Binge eating disorder (BED), characterized by ingestion of very large meals without purging afterwards, is found in a subset of obese individuals. We showed previously that stomach capacity is greater in obese than in lean subjects, and in this study, we investigated capacity in obese individuals with BED. We also determined ad-libitum intake of a...

Inadequate protein intake is a concern following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGBP). The small gastric pouch and bypass restrict energy intake and may lead to insufficient protein intake and absorption, and excess loss of lean tissue. We evaluated protein intake in 93 (77 F, 16 M) morbidly obese individuals (BMI = 52.0 +/- 12.9 [SD]) who underwent RY...

There is a growing literature on the relationship between race/ethnicity and body image and eating disorders, but the conclusions are still unclear. We therefore examined racial/ethnic influences on body image and eating behaviors in 108 Caucasian, 46 African American, and 40 Asian female undergraduates. Participants completed the Figure Rating Sca...

To explore the impact of religion on the development of disturbances in body image and eating behaviors. 78 Orthodox Jewish women were compared with 48 secular Jewish women. Participants completed the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ), the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire Version (EDE-Q), and the Figure Rating Scale (FRS). Despite a similar b...

The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between the night eating syndrome (NES), measures of depression and self-esteem, test meal intake, and weight loss in obese participants. The study included 76 overweight (body mass index = 36.7 +/- 6.5 SD) outpatients (53 women and 23 men; aged 43.5 +/- 9.5 years) entering a weight loss pr...

NEDQ and scoring instructions

The present study was done to determine whether weight gain was more prevalent in workers on late shifts than in those on day shifts. A questionnaire about changes in weight, food intake, exercise, and sleep since starting the job on the current shift was given to day-shift and late-shift (evening and night) hospital workers. Data were analyzed for...

The present study was done to determine whether weight gain was more prevalent in workers on late shifts than in those on day shifts. A questionnaire about changes in weight, food intake, exercise, and sleep since starting the job on the current shift was given to day-shift and late-shift (evening and night) hospital workers. Data were analyzed for...

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Yeshiva University, 1999. Bibliography: p. 51-58. Photocopy.