How is it possible that of two people who share the same high-fat, high-calorie Western diet, one becomes obese and diabetic while the other maintains a slim figure? This is the question asked by a team of researchers from the Yale University School of Medicine (USA), who have come to the conclusion that the key lies in certain differences in brain function that are defined above to be born.
As Tamas Horvath and his team have shown in experiments with mice, the reason that the same diet does not have the same effects on the weight of different subjects lies in the feeding centers of a region of the brain called the hypothalamus. A) Yes,in obesity-prone individuals, the neural signals that tell the brain that you’ve had enough to eat and that it’s time to burn calories is much slower, since it is inhibited by other cells. In obesity-resistant animals, by contrast, satiety neurons are much more active and act faster. “It seems that thebrain wiringit is a determining factor in the vulnerability to develop obesity “, Horvath explains in the latest issue of the journalProceedings of the National Academy (PNAS).
The results would also explain why personal will does not determine obesity. In fact, “those vulnerable to obesity also develop inflammation of the brain, which can justify why they have more difficulty losing weight “, conclude the scientists.
The next step for Horvath and his team will be to analyze what factors determine whether one or another brain function is consolidated during embryonic development. And check if, in addition to genetics, environmental factors can also come into play.
