Research in mice offers an explanation for why dieting can be an ineffective way to lose weight, given that key brain cells can act to prevent calorie burning.
The brain may be the biggest obstacle to losing weight while dieting, according to the results of new research from the University of Cambridge, writes Eurek Alert.
The results of the research were published in the journal eLife. The research was conducted on mice, and it revealed a new mechanism where the body adapts to low calorie intake and limits weight loss.
The researchers found that the main brain cells act as a "trigger" to prevent the body from burning calories when their intake is limited.
"Weight loss strategies are often ineffective because the body functions as a thermostat and equalizes the number of calories we consume with the number of calories we take in," says Dr. Clemens Bluet of the University of Cambridge's Laboratory for the Study of Metabolism in a press release.
"When we eat less, our body compensates for this and burns fewer calories, which makes it harder to lose weight. We know that the brain has to regulate this caloric thermostat, but it was not known how it adjusts calorie burning to the amount of food that people eat," says Dr. Bluetooth.
The researchers alternately activated and deactivated AGRP neurons in mice to see what happens when they manipulate their function.
They found that people become hungry and eat when AGRP neurons are activated, but that if there is no food available, they act to conserve energy by limiting the number of calories burned, thus slowing weight loss.
Researchers say these findings could lead to the development of new and improved therapies to reduce overeating and obesity, reports klix.ba.
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