Paul Smeets is an affiliated associate professor at the UMC Utrecht (guest). He has a background in Behavioral Biology. His PhD work, at the Image Sciences Institute (ISI), aimed at finding biomarkers of satiety in the human brain, using functional MRI. Currently, he works at the Division of Human Nutrition and Health of Wageningen University. The central theme in his research is the decision to eat, which is taken in the brain on the basis of multiple neural as well as hormonal signals. Research topics include the neural correlates of taste, satiety and (un)healthy food choice, gut-brain interactions, effects of personality characteristics on food-induced brain responses and functional neuroimaging in anorexia nervosa. In recent years he has been using MRI techniques to study (gastric) digestion.
Research line
Nutritional and Translational Neuroscience
Most recent key publications
1: Smeets, P., Deng, R., Van Eijnatten, E., & Mayar, M. (2021). Monitoring food digestion with magnetic resonance techniques. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 80(2), 148-158. doi:10.1017/S0029665120007867
2: Smeets PAM, Dagher A, Hare TA, Kullmann S, van der Laan LN, Poldrack RA, Preissl H, Small D, Stice E, Veldhuizen MG. Good practice in food-related neuroimaging. Am J Clin Nutr. 2019 Mar 1;109(3):491-503. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqy344.
3: van Meer F, van der Laan LN, Viergever MA, Adan RAH, Smeets PAM; I.Family Consortium. Considering healthiness promotes healthier choices but modulates medial prefrontal cortex differently in children compared with adults. Neuroimage. 2017 Oct 1;159:325-333. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.08.007.
4: van Meer F, van der Laan LN, Charbonnier L, Viergever MA, Adan RA, Smeets PA; I.Family Consortium. Developmental differences in the brain response to unhealthy food cues: an fMRI study of children and adults. Am J Clin Nutr. 2016 Dec;104(6):1515-1522.
5: Camps G, Mars M, de Graaf C, Smeets PA. Empty calories and phantom fullness: a randomized trial studying the relative effects of energy density and viscosity on gastric emptying determined by MRI and satiety. Am J Clin Nutr. 2016 Jul;104(1):73-80. doi:10.3945/ajcn.115.129064.
6: van Meer F, van der Laan LN, Adan RA, Viergever MA, Smeets PA. What you see is what you eat: an ALE meta-analysis of the neural correlates of food viewing in children and adolescents. Neuroimage. 2015 Jan 1;104:35-43. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.09.069.
University Medical Center Utrecht
Heidelberglaan 100
Q.02.4.45
3584 CX Utrecht
The Netherlands
Publications
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MRI assessment of pH and coagulation during semi-dynamic in vitro gastric digestion of milk proteins
Jul 2024 in Food Hydrocolloids 152 -
Gastric coagulation and postprandial amino acid absorption of milk is affected by mineral composition: a randomized crossover trial
Mar 2024 in Food & function 15 (6), p. 3098-3107 -
Context Matters: Neural Processing of Food-Flavored E-Cigarettes and the Influence of Smoking
Feb 2024 in Biological Psychology 186 p. 108754 -
Interplay between microstructure, mechanical properties, macrostructure breakdown and in vitro gastric digestion of whey protein gels
Feb 2024 in Food Hydrocolloids 147 -
Milk coagulation and gastric emptying in women experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms after ingestion of cow's milk
Jan 2024 in Neurogastroenterology and Motility 36 (1), -
Gastric digestion of whey protein gels: A randomized cross-over trial with the use of MRI
Aug 2023 in Food Hydrocolloids 141 -
Inhibitory control as a potential treatment target for obesity
May 2023 in Nutritional Neuroscience 26 (5), p. 429-444 -
The potential for clinical application of automatic quantification of olfactory bulb volume in MRI scans using convolutional neural networks
Apr 2023 in NeuroImage. Clinical 38 -
In vitro 1H MT and CEST MRI mapping of gastro-intestinal milk protein breakdown
Apr 2023 in Food Structure 36 -
The effect of hunger state on hypothalamic functional connectivity in response to food cues
Feb 2023 in Human Brain Mapping 44 (2), p. 418-428 -
Non-invasive monitoring of in vitro gastric milk protein digestion kinetics by 1H NMR magnetization transfer
Jul 2022 in Food chemistry 383 p. 1-10 -
Monitoring pH and whey protein digestion by TD-NMR and MRI in a novel semi-dynamic in vitro gastric simulator (MR-GAS)
Apr 2022 in Food Hydrocolloids 125 -
Examining the neural correlates of goal priming with the NeuroShop, a novel virtual reality fMRI paradigm
Mar 2022 in Appetite 170 p. 1-9 -
Brain Structure in Acutely Underweight and Partially Weight-Restored Individuals With Anorexia Nervosa: A Coordinated Analysis by the ENIGMA Eating Disorders Working Group
Nov 2022 in Biological Psychiatry 92 (9), p. 730-738 -
Good taste or gut feeling?: A new method in rats shows oro-sensory stimulation and gastric distention generate distinct and overlapping brain activation patterns
Jul 2021 in International Journal of Eating Disorders 54 (7), p. 1116-1126 -
Investigating morphological changes in the brain in relation to etiology and duration of olfactory dysfunction with voxel-based morphometry
Jun 2021 in Scientific Reports 11 (1), -
Monitoring food digestion with magnetic resonance techniques
May 2021 in Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 80 (2), p. 148-158 -
The influence of acute partial sleep deprivation on liking, choosing and consuming high- and low-energy foods
Mar 2021 in Food Quality and Preference 88 -
Gastric Emptying and Intragastric Behavior of Breast Milk and Infant Formula in Lactating Mothers
Dec 2021 in The Journal of nutrition 151 (12), p. 3718-3724 -
Correlation between brain function and ADHD symptom changes in children with ADHD following a few-foods diet: an open-label intervention trial
Dec 2021 in Scientific Reports 11 (1), p. 22205 -
A guide for authors and readers of the American Society for Nutrition Journals on the proper use of P values and strategies that promote transparency and improve research reproducibility
Oct 2021 in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 114 (4), p. 1280-1285 -
Associations between ghrelin and leptin and neural food cue reactivity in a fasted and sated state
Oct 2021 in NeuroImage 240 p. 1-11 -
Endocrine Cephalic Phase Responses to Food Cues: A Systematic Review
Sep 2020 in Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) 11 (5), p. 1364-1383 -
How oro-sensory exposure and eating rate affect satiation and associated endocrine responses-a randomized trial
Jun 2020 in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 111 (6), p. 1137-1149 -
Effects of distraction on taste-related neural processing: a cross-sectional fMRI study
May 2020 in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 111 (5), p. 950-961 -
Exploring in vitro gastric digestion of whey protein by time-domain nuclear magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance imaging
Feb 2020 in Food Hydrocolloids 99 -
Deep Learning-Based Regression and Classification for Automatic Landmark Localization in Medical Images
Dec 2020 in IEEE transactions on medical imaging 39 (12), p. 4011-4022 -
Distraction decreases rIFG-putamen connectivity during goal-directed effort for food rewards
Dec 2020 in Scientific Reports 10 (1), -
The importance of swelling for in vitro gastric digestion of whey protein gels
Nov 2020 in Food chemistry 330 -
Health body priming and food choice: An eye tracking study
Mar 2019 in Food Quality and Preference 72 p. 116-125 -
Good practice in food-related neuroimaging
Mar 2019 in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 109 (3), p. 491-503 -
Grab to eat! Eating motivation dynamics measured by effort exertion depend on hunger state
Dec 2019 in Food Quality and Preference 78 -
Unaware of the amount consumed: Systematic error in estimating food- and drink intake
Oct 2019 in Physiology & Behavior 209 -
Brain responses to anticipation and consumption of beer with and without alcohol
Jan 2019 in Chemical Senses 44 (1), p. 51-60 -
Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search
2019 in Database 2019 p. 1-67 -
Aroma effects on food choice task behavior and brain responses to bakery food product cues
Sep 2018 in Food Quality and Preference 68 p. 304-314 -
Altered neural inhibition responses to food cues after Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass
Sep 2018 in Biological Psychology 137 p. 34-41 -
Just add water: Effects of added gastric distention by water on gastric emptying and satiety related brain activity
Aug 2018 in Appetite 127 p. 195-202 -
Indirect vs direct assessment of gastric emptying: A randomized crossover trial comparing C-isotope breath analysis and MRI
Jul 2018 in Neurogastroenterology and Motility 30 (7), -
Exacting responses: Lack of endocrine cephalic phase responses upon oro-sensory exposure
Jun 2018 in Frontiers in Endocrinology 9 (JUN), -
Effects of hunger state on the brain responses to food cues across the life span
May 2018 in NeuroImage 171 p. 246-255 -
Altered neural responsivity to food cues in relation to food preferences, but not appetite-related hormone concentrations after RYGB-surgery
Nov 2018 in Behavioural Brain Research 353 p. 194-202 -
Volumetric gray matter measures of amygdala and accumbens in childhood overweight/obesity
Jan 2018 in PLoS ONE 13 (10), -
Men and women differ in gastric fluid retention and neural activation after consumption of carbonated beverages
Jan 2018 in Journal of Nutrition 148 (12), p. 1976-1983 -
It's in the eye of the beholder: selective attention to drink properties during tasting influences brain activation in gustatory and reward regions
2018 in Brain Imaging and Behavior 12 (2), p. 425-436 -
A tale of gastric layering and sieving: Gastric emptying of a liquid meal with water blended in or consumed separately
Jul 2017 in Physiology & Behavior 176 p. 26-30 -
Comparison of oro-sensory exposure duration and intensity manipulations on satiation
Jul 2017 in Physiology & Behavior 176 p. 76–83 -
Sensory expectation, perception, and autonomic nervous system responses to package colours and product popularity
Dec 2017 in Food Quality and Preference 62 p. 60-70 -
Considering healthiness promotes healthier choices but modulates medial prefrontal cortex differently in children compared with adults
Oct 2017 in NeuroImage 159 p. 325-333 -
Goal-directed visual attention drives health goal priming: An eye-tracking experiment
Jan 2017 in Health Psychology 36 (1), p. 82-90 -
Health interest modulates brain reward responses to a perceived low-caloric beverage in females
Jan 2017 in Health Psychology 36 (1), p. 65-72 -
Associations between neural correlates of visual stimulus processing and set-shifting in ill and recovered women with anorexia nervosa
Sep 2016 in Psychiatry Research - Neuroimaging 255 p. 35-42 -
Empty calories and phantom fullness: A randomized trial studying the relative effects of energy density and viscosity on gastric emptying determined by MRI and satiety
Jul 2016 in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 104 (1), p. 73-80 -
Supersize my brain: A cross-sectional voxel-based morphometry study on the association between self-reported dietary restraint and regional grey matter volumes
May 2016 in Biological Psychology 117 p. 108-116 -
Effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on human brain morphology and function: What is the evidence?
Mar 2016 in European Neuropsychopharmacology 26 (3), p. 546–561 -
Developmental differences in the brain response to unhealthy food cues: An fMRI study of children and adults
Nov 2016 in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 104 (6), p. 1515-1522 -
Neural Processing of Calories in Brain Reward Areas Can be Modulated by Reward Sensitivity
Jan 2016 in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience [E] 9 -
Subtypes of trait impulsivity differentially correlate with neural responses to food choices
Jan 2016 in Behavioural Brain Research 296 p. 442-450 -
Standardized food images: A photographing protocol and image database
Sep 2015 in Appetite 96 p. 166-173 -
Neural correlates of intolerance of uncertainty in clinical disorders
Sep 2015 in Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience 27 (4), p. 345-353 -
Higher serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and lower plasma glucose are associated with larger gray matter volume but not with white matter or total brain volume in dutch community-dwelling older adults
Aug 2015 in Journal of Nutrition 145 (8), p. 1817-1823 -
Functional MRI of Challenging Food Choices: Forced Choice between Equally Liked High- and Low-Calorie Foods in the Absence of Hunger
Jul 2015 in PLoS ONE [E] 10 (7), -
You are what you eat: A neuroscience perspective on consumers' personality characteristics as determinants of eating behavior
Jun 2015 in Current Opinion in Food Science 3 p. 11-18 -
Altered food-cue processing in chronically ill and recovered women with anorexia nervosa
Feb 2015 in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience [E] 9 (FEB), -
Tasting calories differentially affects brain activation during hunger and satiety
Feb 2015 in Behavioural Brain Research 279 p. 139-147 -
Do you like what you see? The role of first fixation and total fixation duration in consumer choice
Jan 2015 in Food Quality and Preference 39 p. 46-55 -
What you see is what you eat: An ALE meta-analysis of the neural correlates of food viewing in children and adolescents
Jan 2015 in NeuroImage 104 p. 35-43 -
Sweet lies: neural, visual, and behavioral measures reveal a lack of self-control conflict during food choice in weight-concerned women
2014 in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience [E] 8 p. 184 -
The sum of its parts-effects of gastric distention, nutrient content and sensory stimulation on brain activation
2014 in PLoS ONE [E] 9 (3), p. e90872 -
Taste matters - effects of bypassing oral stimulation on hormone and appetite responses
2014 in Physiology & Behavior 137 p. 9-17 -
To like or not to like: neural substrates of subjective flavor preferences
2014 in Behavioural Brain Research 269 p. 128-137 -
Activation in inhibitory brain regions during food choice correlates with temptation strength and self-regulatory success in weight-concerned women
2014 in Frontiers in Neuroscience [E] 8 p. 308 -
Human protein status modulates brain reward responses to food cues
2014 in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 100 (1), p. 113-122 -
Allured or alarmed: Counteractive control responses to food temptations in the brain
2013 in Behavioural Brain Research 248 p. 41-45 -
Effect of replacing sugar with non-caloric sweeteners in beverages on the reward value after repeated exposure
2013 in PLoS ONE [E] 11 p. e81924 -
Neuropsychological weaknesses in anorexia nervosa: Set-shifting, central coherence, and decision making in currently ill and recovered women
2012 in International Journal of Eating Disorders 45 (5), p. 685-694 -
Food-induced brain responses and eating behaviour
2012 in Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 71 (4), p. 511-520 -
Anterior cingulate taste activation predicts ad libitum intake of sweet and savory drinks in healthy, normal-weight men
2012 in Journal of Nutrition 142 (4), p. 795-802 -
Appearance matters: neural correlates of food choice and packaging aesthetics
2012 in PLoS ONE [E] 7 (7), p. e41738 -
Effects of oral and gastric stimulation on appetite and energy intake
2012 in Obesity (Silver Spring) 20 (11), p. 2226-2232 -
Conspicuity or visibility: what may cause an object to draw attention?
2011 in Food Quality and Preference 22 (6), p. 602 -
Consumption of caloric and non-caloric versions of a soft drink differentially affects brain activation during tasting
2011 in NeuroImage 54 (2), p. 1367-1374 -
The first taste is always with the eyes: A meta-analysis on the neural correlates of visual food cues
2011 in NeuroImage 55 (1), p. 296-303 -
Satiety. Not the problem, nor a solution. Comment on 'Satiety. No way to slim'.
2011 in Appetite 57 (3), p. 772-773 -
Caloric versus low-caloric sweeteners: Can the body be fooled?
2010 in International sugar journal 112 (1335), p. 140-147 -
Dietary learning: both consistency and congruency matter
2010 in Nature Reviews. Endocrinology 6 (8), p. following 470 -
Representation of sweet and salty taste intensity in the brain
2010 in Chemical Senses 35 (9), p. 831-840 -
Sip size of orangeade: effects on intake and sensory-specific satiation
2009 in British Journal of Nutrition 102 p. 1091-1097 -
Oral glucose intake inhibits hypothalamic neuronal activity more effectively than glucose infusion
2007 in American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism 293 (3), p. E754-E758 -
Glucose ingestion fails to inhibit hypothalamic neuronal activity in patients with type 2 diabetes
2007 in Diabetes 56 (10), p. 2547-2550 -
Effect of satiety on brain activation during chocolate tasting in men and women
2006 in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 83 (6), p. 1297-1305 -
Functional MRI of human hypothalamic responses to sweet taste and calories
2005 in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 82 p. 1011-1016 -
Functional MRI of human hypothalamic responses following glucose ingestion
2005 in NeuroImage 24 (2), p. 363-368 -
Longevity of bombus terrestris workers (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in relation to pollen availability, in the absence of foraging
Jul 2003 in Apidologie 34 (4), p. 333-337