In 2007, Kurrasch et al. found that the ventromedial hypothalamus is a distinct morphological nucleus involved in terminating hunger, fear, thermoregulation, and sexual activity.

However, the interpretation of these experiments was summarily discredited when Gold's research demonstrated that precision lesioning of the VMN did not result in hyperphagia.

A lesion to the VMH makes rats overproduce leptin, which they cannot respond to causing them to over eat, leading to obesity.

[12] Another study found that there seems to be a higher concentration of cannabinoid receptor mRNA within the VMH in comparison to other nuclei within the hypothalamus.

Most of these individuals had been involuntarily institutionalized or imprisoned for deviant sexual behavior, such as homosexuality, perceived hypersexuality among heterosexual men, and pedophilia.