ReviewThe Journal of physiology2016
Role of the vagus nerve in the development and treatment of diet-induced obesity.
Review in The Journal of physiology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 140 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
140 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effect of vagus nerve stimulation on metabolism: a systematic review and meta-analysis.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2025Pooled it
- Differences in gastrointestinal hormones and appetite ratings between individuals with and without obesity-A systematic review and meta-analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2023Pooled it
- Trial
- The effect of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on HRV in healthy young people.PloS one · 2022Trial
- Lifestyle and psychosocial protective factors drive healthy aging and modulate inflammatory and metabolic pathways.GeroScience · 2026Article
- The critical role of gut-brain signalling in eating behaviour and obesity.Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2026Review
- Continuous vs. intermittent chronic vagus nerve stimulation: effects on T-cell dependent antibody response, heart rate variability and body weight in immunized mice.Bioelectronic medicine · 2026Article
- Enteroendocrine cells wire the gut-brain vagal axis.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Neural mechanisms linking Western diet consumption and cognitive impairment: a role for the vagus nerve.Clinical science (London, England : 1979) · 2026Review
- The vagus nerve promotes memory in rats via nutrient-induced septo-hippocampal acetylcholine signaling.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Interaction of physical activity and gut-brain axis: relevance for obesity.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2026Review
- A Review of Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Disease: Comprehensive Theory and Evidence for Mechanisms of Action.Comprehensive physiology · 2026Review
- Effects of non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation on pupil dilation are dependent on sensory matching.iScience · 2026Article
- The gut-brain vagal axis governs mesolimbic dopamine dynamics and reward events.Science advances · 2026Article
- The vagus nerve as a neurovisceral interface: a comprehensive review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Control of feeding behavior by modified retrograde AAV to the gastrointestinal tract nerve afferents.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Hijacked Brain in Modern Obesity: Cue, Habit, Addiction, Emotion, and Restraint as Targets for Personalized Digital Therapy and Electroceuticals.Journal of obesity & metabolic syndrome · 2025Review
- Obesity and Gut-Brain Communication: The Cholinergic-Endocannabinoid Link.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Reduced liver mitochondrial energy metabolism impairs food intake regulation following gastric preloads and fasting.Molecular metabolism · 2025Article
80 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
This review highlights evidence for a role of the vagus nerve in the development of obesity and how targeting the vagus nerve with neuromodulation or pharmacology can be used as a therapeutic treatment of obesity. The vagus nerve innervating the gut plays an important role in controlling metabolism. It communicates peripheral information about the volume and type of nutrients between the gut and the brain. Depending on the nutritional status, vagal afferent neurons express two different neurochemical phenotypes that can inhibit or stimulate food intake. Chronic ingestion of calorie-rich diets reduces sensitivity of vagal afferent neurons to peripheral signals and their constitutive expression of orexigenic receptors and neuropeptides. This disruption of vagal afferent signalling is sufficient to drive hyperphagia and obesity. Furthermore neuromodulation of the vagus nerve can be used in the treatment of obesity. Although the mechanisms are poorly understood, vagal nerve stimulation prevents weight gain in response to a high-fat diet. In small clinical studies, in patients with depression or epilepsy, vagal nerve stimulation has been demonstrated to promote weight loss. Vagal blockade, which inhibits the vagus nerve, results in significant weight loss. Vagal blockade is proposed to inhibit aberrant orexigenic signals arising in obesity as a putative mechanism of vagal blockade-induced weight loss. Approaches and molecular targets to develop future pharmacotherapy targeted to the vagus nerve for the treatment of obesity are proposed. In conclusion there is strong evidence that the vagus nerve is involved in the development of obesity and it is proving to be an attractive target for the treatment of obesity.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.