ReviewReviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders2026
Shared Brain factors in eating disorders and obesity: a systematic review of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) studies.
Review in Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Eating disorders (EDs) and obesity have traditionally been conceptualized as distinct entities, yet accumulating evidence points to overlapping vulnerabilities spanning genetic, neurobiological, behavioral and psychological domains. Shared risk factors suggest convergent mechanisms, particularly in impulse control, reward processing, emotion regulation and body-image representation. In this scenario, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) offers a clinically accessible tool to examine cortical activity, although findings remain dispersed across heterogeneous studies. A systematic search of PubMed, Scopus and Ovid Embase identified peer-reviewed fNIRS studies in individuals with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder and obesity. Eligible studies included at least one clinical group, reported original data and applied fNIRS to assess cortical responses. From 990 records, 26 studies met inclusion criteria. Eighteen studies incorporated healthy controls, while eight investigated clinical samples only. Across case-control comparisons, consistent alteration emerged in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Obesity and binge eating disorders were associated with attenuated PFC activation during inhibitory control, decision-making and food-related paradigms, whereas bulimia nervosa showed condition-dependent alterations linked to loss-of-control symptoms. Findings in anorexia nervosa were mixed, with reduced activation during executive tasks but heightened responses to socially or emotionally salient stimuli. Broader ED samples showed blunted frontal and temporal activation during verbal fluency. Evidence highlights the PFC as a transdiagnostic hub of altered activity in EDs and obesity, consistent with overlapping vulnerabilities. Disorder-specific profiles underscore context-dependent modulation. Standardized, large-scale studies are needed to clarify the utility of fNIRS in delineating common and distinct neural substrates across the ED-obesity spectrum.
Indexed as
Identifiers
42068457What OpenQuestion holds
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.