Dieting forces brain to eat itself, scientists claim
( A cross-section of the human brain)
Dieters struggle to lose weight because a lack of nutrition forces their brain cells to eat themselves, making the feeling of hunger even stronger, scientists claim.
Like other parts of the body, brain cells begin to eat themselves as a last-ditch source of energy to ward off starvation, a study found.
The body responds by turning up the hunger signal in the brain and increasing the impulse to eat.
Researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York said the findings could lead to new scientifically proven weight loss treatments.
Tests on mice found that stopping the brain cells from eating themselves - a process known as autophagy - prevented levels of hunger from rising in response to starvation.
This caused mice to become lighter and slimmer after a period of fasting, the researchers reported in the journal Cell Metabolism.
Dr Rajat Singh, who led the study, said that treatments aimed to recreate this process "might make you less hungry and burn more fat, a good way to maintain energy balance in a world where calories are cheap and plentiful".
Like other parts of the body, brain cells begin to eat themselves as a last-ditch source of energy to ward off starvation, a study found.
The body responds by turning up the hunger signal in the brain and increasing the impulse to eat.
Researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York said the findings could lead to new scientifically proven weight loss treatments.
Tests on mice found that stopping the brain cells from eating themselves - a process known as autophagy - prevented levels of hunger from rising in response to starvation.
This caused mice to become lighter and slimmer after a period of fasting, the researchers reported in the journal Cell Metabolism.
Dr Rajat Singh, who led the study, said that treatments aimed to recreate this process "might make you less hungry and burn more fat, a good way to maintain energy balance in a world where calories are cheap and plentiful".
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8677200/Dieting-forces-brain-to-eat-itself-scientists-claim.html
Reflections:
I feel that this research can be very useful to dieters, especially obese people who would want to lose weight desperately. I feel that this method of losing weight by preventing brain cells from eating themselves is a unique way of losing weight. By utilising this process of autophagy, it can help these obese people to lose weight effectively. As we know that many dieters like to lose weight by controlling their food intake, this method would be feasible and useful to many others.
It is also reliable since this method has been tested on mice and has proven to be effective. Also, no side effects were observed from the mice and should be a safe way for people to lose weight. However, even with this method, I feel that it is still not very safe to fast for a long period of time. This is because the sugar levels in our body might run low and we might eventually lose the energy to carry out our daily activities. In more severe cases, this might even lead to death.
Thus, this might not be beneficial to the body and I am unsupportive of this method. I feel that autophagy should only be carried out occasionally since it affects our health. If given a choice, I would not really go for this option to lose weight since it is life-threatening. Instead, I would look for alternative ways to lose weight, such as burning my calories by going for a jog 3 times a week. However, it is still a great feat that scientist are still able to invent this type of slimming methods and credit must still go to them.
