The relationship between obesity and neural vulnerability is modulated by the APOE genotype (Zade et al., 2013), which aligns with the findings that APOE4 carriers are at increased risk for metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease (El-Lebedy et al., 2016; Torres-Perez et al., 2016). Here, APOE is linked to obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency.