Vargas-Vargas MA, González-Montoya M, Torres-Isidro O, Martínez-González AP, Cuiniche-Méndez MG, García-Romero DP, Reyes-Orozco MA, Calderón-Cortés E, Rodríguez-Orozco AR, Cortés-Rojo C. Prefrontal cortex immaturity and reward circuit hijacking: Why anti-obesity policies fail to protect children from ultra-processed food overconsumption. World J Clin Pediatr 2026; 15(4): 120921 [DOI: 10.5409/wjcp.120921]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Christian Cortés-Rojo, PhD, Professor, Instituto de Investigaciones Químico-Biológicas, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Edificio B-3, Ciudad Universitaria, Avenida Fco J Mujica, Morelia 58030, Michoacán, Mexico. christian.cortes@umich.mx
Research Domain of This Article
Pediatrics
Article-Type of This Article
review-article
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Pediatr. Dec 9, 2026; 15(4): 120921 Published online Dec 9, 2026. doi: 10.5409/wjcp.120921
Prefrontal cortex immaturity and reward circuit hijacking: Why anti-obesity policies fail to protect children from ultra-processed food overconsumption
Manuel Alejandro Vargas-Vargas, Marcela González-Montoya, Olin Torres-Isidro, Ana Paula Martínez-González, María Guadalupe Cuiniche-Méndez, Danna Paola García-Romero, Miguel Angel Reyes-Orozco, Elizabeth Calderón-Cortés, Alain Raimundo Rodríguez-Orozco, Christian Cortés-Rojo
Manuel Alejandro Vargas-Vargas, Marcela González-Montoya, Olin Torres-Isidro, Ana Paula Martínez-González, María Guadalupe Cuiniche-Méndez, Christian Cortés-Rojo, Instituto de Investigaciones Químico-Biológicas, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia 58030, Michoacán, Mexico
Danna Paola García-Romero, Miguel Angel Reyes-Orozco, Escuela de Estudios Superiores Interdisciplinarios, Programa Institucional de Licenciatura en Biotecnología, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia 58030, Michoacán, Mexico
Elizabeth Calderón-Cortés, Facultad de Enfermería, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia 58020, Michoacán, Mexico
Alain Raimundo Rodríguez-Orozco, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas y Biológicas “Dr. Ignacio Chávez”, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia 58020, Michoacán, Mexico
Co-first authors: Manuel Alejandro Vargas-Vargas and Marcela González-Montoya.
Author contributions: Vargas-Vargas MA, González-Montoya M, Martínez-González AP, Cuiniche-Méndez MG, García-Romero DP, Rodríguez-Orozco AR and Cortés-Rojo C performed the majority of the writing; Torres-Isidro O, Reyes-Orozco MA and Calderón-Cortés E prepared the figures; Vargas-Vargas MA, González-Montoya M, and Cortés-Rojo C designed the outline and coordinated the writing of the paper; Vargas-Vargas MA and González-Montoya M are co-first authors because they contributed equally to the planning, writing, and editing of the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
AI contribution statement: The authors state that no AI tools were used in the preparation of this article.
Supported by Programa Proyectos de Investigación financiados 2026, No. 47683; and Awarded Postdoctoral Fellowships, No. 472544 and No. 589763.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Corresponding author: Christian Cortés-Rojo, PhD, Professor, Instituto de Investigaciones Químico-Biológicas, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Edificio B-3, Ciudad Universitaria, Avenida Fco J Mujica, Morelia 58030, Michoacán, Mexico. christian.cortes@umich.mx
Received: March 11, 2026 Revised: May 13, 2026 Accepted: June 17, 2026 Published online: December 9, 2026 Processing time: 193 Days and 2.4 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: The obesity epidemic in the pediatric population has been linked to the overconsumption of ultra-processed foods, whose hyper-palatability stimulates reward and disrupts the balance between the immature prefrontal cortex and the overactive reward circuitry during neurodevelopment. Current regulatory measures such as front-of-pack labeling, nutrition-based taxation and advertising restrictions have shown disappointing results in decreasing pediatric obesity. We propose a paradigm shift by giving parents education programs, developing early self-regulation skills in children, implementing cognitive behavioral and family-based therapies, and carefully evaluating dopamine-targeted pharmacological agents as a potential future option for severe, treatment-refractory cases, given limited long-term safety data in children.
