Together with the hypothalamus, the insular cortex and other brain regions receive interoceptive information from peripheral organs. This information is processed along with environmental, sensory and emotional information by other cortical and subcortical areas, ultimately leading to changes in food intake. The hypothalamus ultimately projects to midbrain and brainstem areas controlling behavior (VTA: ventral tegmental area; PBN: parabrachial nucleus; PAG: periaqueductal gray; NTS: nucleus tractus solitarius). Many of the cortical (ACC: anterior cingulate cortex, PFC: prefrontal cortex, OFC: orbitofrontal cortex, IC: insular cortex) and subcortical (HPC: hippocampus, LS: lateral septum, BNST: bed nucleus of stria terminalis; Amy: Amygdala) are reciprocally connected and control information outflow.