Why do smokers tend to weigh less than non-smokers?

American researchers have discovered why smokers generally weigh less than non-smokers. As revealed in a study published today in the magazineScience, Nicotine, one of the main factors of addiction to tobacco, suppresses the sensation of appetite. Experiments carried out in mice show that this substance activates a set of neuronal receptors, different from those that arouse the urge to smoke, which are located in themelanocortin system of the hypothalamus. This system is responsible for distributing the extra energy provided by food, metabolizing it or storing it in the form of fat.

In addition, as Marina Picciotto, lead author of the study and researcher at the department of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine (USA) points out, “it is possible to suppress the sensation of appetite without affecting the reward centers of the brain. “. And it is that these receptorsincrease the activity of a number of brain neurons,known ascélulas proopiomelanocortina o POMC, whatare related to obesity in humans and animals. The results revealed that the mice that lacked the POMC neurons did not lose weight, unlike the mice that did.

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in developed countries, butthere are people, especially women, who refuse to quit smoking for fear of gaining weight. “Identifying these receptors will help to understand the mechanisms associated with addiction, weight and smoking,” says Mariella de Biasi, also an author of the study and a researcher at the Department of Neurosciences at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston (USA).

Although the research results have only been obtained in mice, “they could be key to the development ofdrugs that help smokers to quit without gaining weight“The scientist emphasizes. In addition,? these drugs would also make it possible to control obesity and metabolic disorders in other people,” she concludes.