The Short Version
Multiple 2025 studies do provide direct evidence that VTA dopamine neurons help sustain ongoing reward consumption, most notably a Science paper showing VTA dopamine activity is time-locked to eating duration and that optogenetic enhancement increases food intake. However, the claim's general phrasing slightly overstates the scope: the strongest evidence pertains specifically to hedonic eating contexts where dopamine opposes satiety signals, not to all forms of reward consumption broadly.