Oxytocin reduces reward-driven food intake in humans

Experiments in animals suggest that the neuropeptide oxytocin acts as an anorexigenic signal in the central nervous control of food intake. In humans, however, research has almost exclusively focused on oxytocin’s involvement in the regulation of social behavior. We investigated the effect of intranasal oxytocin on ingestion and metabolic function in healthy men. Food intake in the fasted state was examined 45 min after neuropeptide administration, followed by the assessment of olfaction and reward-driven snack intake in the absence of hunger. Energy expenditure was registered by indirect calorimetry and blood was repeatedly sampled to determine concentrations of blood glucose and hormones. Oxytocin markedly reduced snack consumption, restraining in particular the intake of chocolate cookies by 25%. Oxytocin moreover attenuated basal and postprandial levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol, and curbed the meal-related rise in plasma glucose. Energy expenditure and hunger-driven food intake as well as olfactory function were not affected. Our results indicate that oxytocin, beyond its role in social bonding, regulates non-homeostatic, reward-related energy intake, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity and the glucoregulatory response to food intake in humans. These effects can be assumed to converge with oxytocin’s psychosocial function and imply possible applications in the treatment of metabolic disorders.