COVER ILLUSTRATION Food preference is modulated by bodily signals. Visual and orosensory aspects of food items stimulate the neural dopamine circuit (DA circuit) to establish food preference as well as prediction of caloric content. The preference is updated by the nutritional value sensed in the body and transmitted to the brain through different pathways; carbohydrate metabolism is linked to brain dopamine through the portal vein but the exact pathway is unknown, lipid-dependent dopamine

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... lling is mediated by the vagus nerve, possibly through activation of PPARα receptors expressed on enterocytes. The vagus nerve sends afferents to the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS), that synapse to dopaminergic downstream areas. In addition, neural dopamine pathways are directly modulated by gut hormones that are released during fat and glucose ingestion. Hence, neural dopamine mediates the reward value of food and thereby shapes food preferences. Cover figure provided by Sharmili Edwin Thanarajah and Marc Tittgemeyer (nf-2019-0020, in this issue).