Posted on 09/10/2021 10:55:35 AM PDT by Red Badger
When rats are fed a high fat diet, this disturbs the body clock in their brain that normally controls satiety, leading to over-eating and obesity. That’s according to new research published in The Journal of Physiology.
The number of people with obesity has nearly tripled worldwide since 1975.[1] In England alone, 28% of adults are obese and another 36% are overweight.[2] Obesity can lead to several other diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some types of cancer.[3]
This new research may be a cornerstone for future clinical studies that could restore the proper functioning of the body clock in the brain, to avoid overeating.
Historically, it was believed that the master body clock was only located in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus. However, further research over the years has clarified that some control of our body’s daily rhythms (hormone levels, appetite, etc.) lies in several other parts of the brain and body, including a group of neurons in the evolutionary ancient brainstem, called the dorsal vagal complex (DVC).
Specifically, the DVC has been shown to control food intake by inducing satiety.
Research has also shown that in obesity, daily rhythms in food intake and the release of hormones related to eating, are blunted or eliminated.
However, it has not been clear if the malfunctioning of brain centers controlling appetite is a cause or the result of obesity.
This new research conducted at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow in collaboration with the University of Bristol found that high-fat diet fed rats, before they started to gain weight, showed changes in the DVC’s daily neuronal rhythms and the response of these neurons to appetite hormones.
Thus, the researchers propose that disturbance in the DVC’s timekeeping leads to obesity, rather than being the result of excessive body weight.
The research was performed on two groups of rats: those fed a well-balanced control diet (10% kcal from fat) and a high-fat diet (70% kcal from fat).
To mimic the impact of unhealthy diet on humans, the researchers introduced the new diet to adolescent rats (4-week-old) and monitored their food intake across 24 hours for four consecutive weeks.
Electrophysiological recordings were performed to measure how DVC neuronal activity changes across 24h. The use of multi-electrode arrays allowed for simultaneous monitoring of around a hundred DVC neurons from each brainstem slice. This enabled the researchers to assess circadian changes of neuronal activity as well as neuronal responses to metabolically-relevant hormones in each of the diet groups.
While the human and mouse brainstem share common features, the major limitation of the study for its immediate translation to humans is that it was performed on nocturnal animals (rats). The peak of the DVC activity was observed at the end of day, which is the rest phase for rodents, but an active phase for people. Thus, it remains to be established if the phase of the brainstem clock is set to day and night, or whether it depends on patterns of rest and activity.
This study opens new research opportunities for trying to establish the strategy how to restore body clock function of the DVC, and therefore help tackle obesity.
Dr. Lukasz Chrobok, first author of the study said:
“I’m really excited about this research because of the possibilities it opens up to tackle the growing health issue of obesity. We still do not know what are the time cues which are able to reset or synchronize the brainstem clock. Hopefully, the restoration of daily rhythms in this satiety center before or after the onset of obesity may provide new therapeutic opportunities.”
Reference: “Rhythmic neuronal activities of the rat nucleus of the solitary tract are impaired by high-fat diet – implications for daily control of satiety” by Lukasz Chrobok, Jasmin D Klich, Anna M Sanetra, Jagoda S Jeczmien-Lazur, Kamil Pradel, Katarzyna Palus-Chramiec, Mariusz Kepczynski, Hugh D Piggins and Marian H Lewandowski, 6 September 2021, The Journal of Physiology. DOI: 10.1113/JP281838
Notes
1. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight
2. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn03336/
3. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/obesity/
Funny thing...high-fructose corn syrup and other artificial sweeteners have their own issues regarding “satiety”/the “that’s enough” signal, compared to actual sugar.
BS
Sugar + Fat kills.
Blood Letting in High-Ferritin Type 2 Diabetes
Effects on Insulin Sensitivity and β-Cell Function
https://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/51/4/1000
Men who eat chocolate or meat often have excess iron. I suggest they donate blood every two years.
If blood ferritin is less than 70 ng/ml, the person has an iron deficiency.
bookmark
I’m not a rat. When I went on a high fat diet, I dropped 35 lbs, got off my blood pressure meds and 3 years later have the smallest waist I’ve had since 20 - and I haven’t been 20 for a LONG time!
Hight fat. Low carb. Intermittent fasting. It has worked GREAT for me. YMMV.
When I eat a high fat diet I just get fat. 🤔
But of course ivermectin overdose is the worst plague of the day, so why bring this up.
I think that is caused by the diabetes, not the other way around. Insulin is the fat storage hormone and once you become insulin resistant the body is forced to make too much insulin so the excess insulin does what it is supposed to do, it forces the fat into the cells for storage.
There are plenty of doctors on YouTube explaining this but they are not in tune with the current dogma of low fat that we have been stuck with for 60 years. Don't expect big pharma to recommend a diet change to solve your diabetes because they sell insulin. They get a super high price that Trump had forced down then Joe undid that.
Many believe we can lay a lot of blame on high-fructose corn syrup for a lot of diet related problems. One even said Japan managed quite well on a high carb diet until we introduced high fructose corn syrup to their culture. In fact he said when they started removing fat from food they tasted awful so they replace the fats with fructose. Could be, no expert but he makes a case..........
What seems to effectively reset the body clock, is intermittent fasting — rather than eating around the clock, whether it be fats or carbs.
The daily practice of fasting from 12-24 hours, seems to eliminate the possibilities for overeating (obesity), more than any other particular macronutrients — and then the secondary problem is hyperinsulemia — which is almost entirely controlled by carbohydrate intake.
Initially, intermittent fasting and carbohydrate restriction worked extremely well in Type 2 diabetes, but then a lot of Type 1 diabetics noticed that same success with the reduction or elimination of carbohydrates — which was in fact discovered and proposed over 100 years ago as the cure for diabetes.
Carbs are bad enough, Sugar is pure poison.
Fructose can not be used by the body and can only be metabolized by the liver and as a by-product deposits fat in the liver. Constant over consumption of fructose, like over consumption of alcohol, is well documented to cause fatty liver. Fructose is, obviously, a major component of high-fructose corn syrup used in most sodas and processed food, it is also half of the table sugar, sucrose, molecule and is the primary sugar in fruit juice.
The typical American consumes extraordinary volumes of fructose without the fiber that typically accompanies it in nature. Without the fiber not only is there not the natural limits on consumption from fiber as a filler, but the body also uses fiber to carry out toxins from the liver.
Fatty liver and organ cavity fat is not just a side effect of being fat, it is a direct and very unhealthy consequence of the sugar consumption that makes us fat. Normal weight people can have a lot of fat around their organs and they end up with the same health problems as obese people. Obese people can have relatively little organ cavity fat and be quite healthy. The true problem is the organ fat or what it is symptomatic of.
Agree.
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