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Brain's Weight Switch Found: May Let Us Eat What We Want, Finally (neurosciencenews.com)

submitted 1 year ago by will_a113@lemmy.ml to c/science@beehaw.org

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A new discovery reveals that astrocytes, star-shaped cells in the brain, play a key role in regulating fat metabolism and obesity. These cells act on a cluster of neurons, known as the GABRA5 cluster, effectively acting as a “switch” for weight regulation.

The MAO-B enzyme in these astrocytes was identified as a target for obesity treatment, influencing GABA secretion and thus weight regulation.

KDS2010, a selective and reversible MAO-B inhibitor, successfully led to weight loss in obese mice without impacting their food intake, even while consuming a high-fat diet, and is now in Phase 1 clinical trials.

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[-] tiny_electron@beehaw.org 19 points 1 year ago

But where does all the excess energy go? You can't cheat basic physics

[-] TheChurn@kbin.social 42 points 1 year ago

Believe it or not, what you swallow has almost nothing to do with your weight. The only place the body absorbs energy from food is in the intestines, and the brain controls that process.

The digestive tract is a tube, open at both ends, through which food passes. The process of extracting energy from that food is complex and highly tunable: the brain controls the production and secretion of hundreds of enzymes and other chemicals, as well as the physical action of the muscles lining the tube.

The 'basic physics' here begins at the intestinal wall, not the mouth.

[-] Hardeehar@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

I mean technically, if it's a tube, the mouth is part of the basic physics brain process. As in, if you don't eat it, it won't be added to the calories. The decision to eat is a brain process, too.

We've got drugs that play with that decision.

[-] jarfil@beehaw.org 20 points 1 year ago

Unless you don't eat at all, the decision to eat is secondary to the decision to absorb energy from it.

For example, I've been eating a "healthy diet" with about the same amount of exercise, for the last 3 years: first it kept my weight steady, then I lost 70 pounds in 3 months, then gained 10.

The only difference: stress levels.

People have been congratulating me for ~~losing weight~~ getting stressed out of my mind to the point of almost going crazy and killing myself. Thanks, but I was better before.