Food reward consists of two branches:
sensory and postingestive [41]. In humans,
gustatory information perceived by taste receptors
on the tongue ascends through the
thalamus and eventually terminates in the
anterior insula/frontal operculum and the orbitofrontal
cortex [43,44]. Amygdala makes
reciprocal connections along all levels of the
gustatory pathway. Mesolimbic dopamine
system is also crucial for the hedonic recognition
of the stimulus and feeling of satisfaction
following ingesting food with pleasant
tastes [41,45,46,47].
The postingestive component