'Switch' in brain linked to weight gain.

[Kansenji]

DAILY TELEGRAPH ARTICLE: (bold highlights added by me)

Scientists think they have found a "switch" in the brain that is linked to weight gain.
If it is faulty then rather than recognising that the body is full, the brain sends out signals to eat more and to store more sugars as fat.

The mechanism also has a direct link to obesity-linked disorders such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease, scientists believe. A study suggests that drugs could be used to suppress this switch and help people get back to a healthy weight.

Scientists working with mice made the discovery in the hypothalamus, a part of the brain that links the nervous system to the hormones affecting metabolic processes.
Among other things, the hypothalamus helps to regulate body temperature, hunger and thirst.

The switch, a protein complex called NF-kappaB, is primarily associated with the immune system. Scientists say that in the past it used to help the body fight infection, but it now influences food intake and metabolism. One of its effects is to create resistance to insulin and resistance to the "feeling full" hormone leptin, which controls appetite. This can lead to more food being eaten and the generation of obesity.

LINK: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/new...10/Switch-in-brain-linked-to-weight-gain.html

 

[sugarless sue]

Well someone must have left my switch to on!!Those poor mice!!

 

[hanadr]

My switch must be broken, I'm always cold. eI'm in a jumper when everyone else is in tee-shirts

 

[Trinkwasser]

Does anyone else groan inwardly when you read "in mice"?

I suspect because of their high metabolic rates and short life and high carb diet they may actually be designed to switch "diabetes" on and off to maximise stashing of excess food when available and utilisation of the stored body fat later.

Sedge warblers are small birds which breed in Europe and the UK and migrate across the Sahara to winter. Before migrating they can double their body weight.

Now they are insect-eaters. What I didn't realise until recently was that to do this they stuff their little faces with high carb insects: plum reed aphids are full of sugars from the plant juices they suck.

Throughout the rest of the year the have no "weight issues", they seem to turn this on in spring and autumn purely for migration purposes.

Like the mice whether there is any direct relevance between their biochemistry and ours is moot.

 

[sugarless sue]

I just feel sorry for the mice,they must sit in their cages thinking WTH are they going to give us next!!

 

[SilverAndEbony]

If people only quote you results of animal trials it shows you how far advanced the research is - not far.
Before I get excited about research I like the research to have progressed a lot nearer to being tested in humans! I'm glad they prove the drug isn't fatal in mice before they move onto humans!

 

[gillyh]

So who's going to volunteer to take the places of all those poor mice? :wink:

 

[Trinkwasser]

So who's going to volunteer to take the places of all those poor mice? :wink:

Political Prisoners

 

[gillyh]

Illegal immigrants, paedophiles, murderers .... need I go on? :twisted:

 

[hanadr]

I am most unmouselike, being both tall and junoesque in figure. I'm not sure that we should take much notice of work in mice. "THEY" don't consider the methods of carb digestion of non-human mammals. and tell us to eat the stuff. Give it to the poor little mice.

 

[Graham1441]

Well Well Well, I have always said it was not my fault, lol.

 

[Trinkwasser]

They would probably do better studying elephants but then they'd have to build bigger labs

 

[sugarless sue]

They would probably do better studying elephants but then they'd have to build bigger labs

Not to mention much bigger cages!! :lol: :lol:

 

[caitycakes]

Pity they couldn't find the "switch" in the pancreas that causes diabetes and switch the **** thing off!!! lol

caitycakes x

 

[Graham55]

Now thats a thought,
Graham 55 T2 for a year.