Godlike Productions - News: Gut chemical may inspire new way to fight obesity

09:16 AM

News

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Breaking News Back

Gut chemical may inspire new way to fight obesity

Reuters

2008-12-01

Scientists have identified a fatty substance made in the gut that signals the brain when it's time to stop eating -- a discovery that could inspire new approaches to fighting obesity.

Writing in the journal Cell on Wednesday, U.S. researchers said experiments with mice and rats showed that a naturally occurring fat-derived chemical messenger called NAPE regulated how much the animals ate. It is present in people and may do the same thing, they said.

Gerald Shulman of Yale University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and colleagues said that when the rodents were fed a fatty meal, their small intestine made a lot of NAPE and put it into the bloodstream. It then traveled to the brain and shut down hunger signals, they said.

NAPE levels shot up after the rodents ate a fatty meal, but not when they ate only protein or carbohydrates, they said.

The researchers then synthesized NAPE and injected it into the abdomen of the animals, whose appetites diminished greatly. When NAPE was delivered in much smaller amounts directly to the brain, it had the same effect on appetite as a larger dose injected into the bloodstream.

NAPE concentrated in the hypothalamus, an important brain structure known to regulate hunger, and inhibited neurons that stimulate appetite, they said.

When the rodents were given extra NAPE for five days, they animals ate less and lost weight, the researchers said.

With obesity on the rise in many parts of the world as people eat fattier diets and get less exercise, scientists are eager to find new ways to combat the problem. These findings could help guide efforts to create better drugs to suppress appetite and reduce obesity, the researchers said.

"Clearly what we have in mind is trying to find new approaches that regulate food intake. And this may be a new pathway that one could target to treat obesity," Shulman said in a telephone interview.

"We're now doing the fat-feeding studies in humans to see if we get a similar increase in plasma (blood) NAPE concentrations following a fatty meal," Shulman added.

Scientists are working toward a greater understanding of how the body tells the brain to control food intake. Hormones such as leptin that help regulate this system have proven disappointing when examined as human weight-loss treatments.

Email Article

Discuss in the Forum

Back

Vote For Godlike Productions!

Disclaimer:
This website exists for entertainment purposes only. The reader is responsible for discerning the validity, factuality or implications of information posted here, be it fictional or based on real events. Moderators on this forum make every effort to review the material posted on this site however, it is not realistically possible for our small staff to manually review each and every one of the more than 5000 posts GodlikeProductions gets on a daily basis. The content of posts
on this site, including but not limited to links to other web sites, are the expressed opinion of the original poster and are in no way representative of or endorsed by the owners or administration of this website. The posts on this website are the opinion of the specific author and are not statements of advice, opinion, or factual information on behalf of the owner or administration of GodlikeProductions. This site may contain adult content and if you feel you might be offended by such content, you should log off immediately.

Not all posts on this website are intended as truthful or factual assertion by their authors. Some users of this website are participating in internet role playing, with or without the use of an avatar. NO post on this website should be considered factual information on face value alone. Users are encouraged to USE DISCERNMENT and do their own follow up research while reading and posting on this website. Godlikeproductions.com reserves the right to make changes to, corrections and/or remove entirely at any time posts made on this website without notice. In addition, Godlikeproductions.com disclaims any and all liability for damages incurred directly or indirectly as a result of a post on this website.

This site is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. You should not assume that this site is error-free or that it will be suitable for the particular purpose which you have in mind when using it. In no event shall Godlikeproductions.com be liable for any special, incidental, indirect or consequential damages of any kind, or any damages whatsoever, including, without limitation, those resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether or not advised of the possibility of damage, and on any theory of liability, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of this site or other documents which are referenced by or linked to this site.

Some events depicted in certain posting and threads on this website may be fictitious and any similarity to any person living or dead is merely coincidental. Some other articles may be based on actual events but which in certain cases incidents, characters and timelines have been changed for dramatic purposes. Certain characters may be composites, or entirely fictitious.

We do not discriminate against the mentally ill!

Fair Use Notice:
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Users may make such material available in an effort to advance awareness and understanding of issues relating to civil rights, economics, individual rights, international affairs, liberty, science & technology, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C.Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
For more information please visit:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

This Disclaimer is subject to change at anytime.

Mail Webmaster with questions or comments about this site.

Page generated in 0.019s (1 queries)