On Oct. 13, 2020, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and nine other institutes, all part of the National Institutes of Health, reported that differences in the microstructure of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), a region in the brain that plays an important role in processing food and other reward stimuli, predict increases in indicators of obesity in children.

The paper, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was based on data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. The ABCD Study will follow nearly 12,000 children through early adulthood to assess factors that influence individual brain development and other health outcomes.