Hijacked Brain in Modern Obesity: Cue, Habit, Addiction, Emotion, and Restraint as Targets for Personalized Digital Therapy and Electroceuticals.
Journal:
Journal of obesity & metabolic syndrome
Published Date:
Jul 24, 2025
Abstract
The global obesity epidemic can no longer be explained by personal choice or caloric excess alone. Mounting evidence points to underlying neurobehavioral dysfunction, exacerbated by environments engineered to promote overconsumption. Modern obesity is driven by five interrelated neurobehavioral factors: cue-evoked eating, habitual-context eating, food addiction, emotional eating, and restrained eating. These maladaptive eating patterns arise from a decoupling of homeostatic and hedonic brain circuits in an obesogenic environment. This review synthesizes evidence from neuroimaging, behavioral experiments, and animal studies to illustrate how each factor contributes to obesity risk and relapse after weight loss. We further discuss emerging interventions -including digital therapeutics (DTx) and electroceuticals-that target these drivers with increasing precision. DTx platforms deliver scalable, phenotype-informed interventions through cognitive-behavioral modules, real-time monitoring, and artificial intelligence-driven coaching. Electroceutical strategies, including non-invasive brain stimulation and vagus nerve modulation, show promise in reshaping dysfunctional circuits. Finally, we propose a neurobehavioral subtyping model to guide personalized obesity treatment, integrating brain-based phenotyping with multimodal interventions. This framework may offer a path toward sustained and mechanism-driven obesity care.
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