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/
And vice versa...............
No offense, but these researchers are FOS.
Food will kill you!
Stop eating it!................ 😷
And diabetes where fats and proteins do not play a direct role.
Omega 6 fats reduce the ability of the body to process sugar.
Consuming a lot of omega 6 fats causes diabetes.
Fantastic! I’ve started and down about 10...got a long way to go. Cutting carbs and SUGAR for me.
As pointed out above in the thread, normal weight people can get T2 diabetes. Sugar is the problem, particularly fructose. Like alcohol, fructose is metabolized by the liver and causes fatty deposits in the liver. Somewhere in this you foul up the glucose metabolism and cells won’t take in excess glucose.
My stepdad is skinny as a rail and has worked himself like a dog his whole life. In recent years he has developed T2 diabetes. He is a recovering alcoholic (15 years sober) and eats a low fat diet because that is what doctors and my mother have told him to do for decades. I am sure the drinking did damage his liver, but it never gets a chance to recover with all the sugar and starches he eats. The diabetes meds also make him constantly hungry, but he does so much physical labor he still stays skinny in his late 60s.
Food will kill you!
Stop eating it!................ 😷
I am adding wagyu beef tallow to my fortifier list.
My stepdad is skinny as a rail and has worked himself like a dog his whole life. In recent years he has developed T2 diabetes. He is a recovering alcoholic (15 years sober) and eats a low fat diet because that is what doctors and my mother have told him to do for decades.
Men who eat chocolate or meat likely have excess iron. Alcohol increases absorption of iron. Excess iron causes diabetes.
People who drink alcohol are healthier.
Let me know what you think of it.
If so-called scientists were testing rats to figure out wolf physiology they would be dismissed with laughter. Yet they can release rat studies and claim it has something to do with humans and people line up to accept it.
Every once in a while I see a human interest story, like the 94 year old lady in Montana who still rides a horse and manages her ranch and drinks a glass of whiskey and has a cigar every day. Lol.
Specifically, it is “palmitic acid,” out of the fatty acids:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090914110533.htm
When I went through Tokyo last April, I discovered I had a bunch of yen from a previous trip. So ... I splurged on some wagyu beef.
That was the most tender, flavorful beef I had ever had. So, so delicious.
Their website is full of rainbow flags and haggard-looking “researchers”, I suspect they are militant communist vegans. Veganism is a religion make no doubt. It has an orthodoxy and a dogma. Personally, most vegans are mentally ill just like most other liberals. Busybody idiots who just want to control you. And anyway who ever heard of “The Physiology Society”. I have a study written up by the Tinfoil Hat Society that has convincing evidence the moon is made of cheese
If you ate what the vegans ate you would be crazy, too.
Adults don’t need any carbohydrates in their diet, although a few grams per day won’t hurt. You can live on just fats and proteins and be much healthier.
pretty sure high refined sugar diets do the same thing
Interesting. I had not heard of the iron/diabetes hypothesis before. I will dig into it. Not that my parents don’t eat red meat, but they mostly stick to chicken breast because it is low fat.
As much of a positive experience as I have had with a low carb/high fat diet I can’t change my parents minds from what they have been told for decades. Doesn’t matter how old or well educated the kids get, parents just don’t listen to them. My kids will probably have the same problem with me.
Eric Hoffer had some interesting observations about the correlation between political radicals and oddball dietary practices, such as vegetarianism or the “proper” way to chew one’s food. He compared it to a secular purification ritual.
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