From the London Free Press...
"Belly fat breeds fat
by John Miner, Sun Media
Tue, April 15, 2008
Your belly fat could be making you hungrier, triggering you to eat more and making you even fatter, London scientists have discovered.
“It is a vicious cycle,” said Lawson Health Research’s Dr. Kaiping Yang, a professor at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Yang and his colleagues have discovered the hormone that stimulates appetite in the brain, neuropeptide, is also produced in abdominal fat. Previously it was believed it was made only in the brain.
If, as the Lawson scientists now suspect, neuropeptide from belly fat makes it into the blood stream and to the brain, it could explain why some people just get fatter and fatter.
“You put on pounds and produce more NPY (neuropeptide) and more NPY and it travels to the brain. Now you are hungry and need to eat,” Yang said. “This could explain why obese people are constantly hungry.” There’s more bad news.
Neuropeptide also increases the number of fat cells by stimulating the replication of fat cell precursor cells. The precursor cells then change into fat cells.
The Lawson researchers are working to confirm neuropeptide produced in abdominal fat makes its way into the blood stream, Yang said.
If that’s proven, it could open the door to new treatments for obesity that block neuropeptide production in fat cells.
“To get into the area of the brain where NPY is produced, it is very, very difficult. Targeting fat is much easier. With fat we could inject a chemical to inhibit NPY production,” Yang said. Abdominal fat has been identified as more dangerous than other fat, raising the risk for Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and some cancers.
It would be much easier to use drugs to prevent obesity than to treat the diseases caused by fat, Yang said."
And from Newstrack India:
"Yang said, “This may lead to a vicious cycle where NPY produced in the brain causes you to eat more and therefore gain more fat around your middle. And then that fat produces more NYP hormone, which leads to even more fat cells.”
“If you can detect NPY early and identify those at risk for abdominal obesity, we can then target therapy to turn off NPY,” Yang said.
"It would be much easier to use drugs to prevent obesity than to treat the diseases caused by obesity," he added."
LINKS:
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/08_02/OverweightREX_468x313.jpg
http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/3163
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/CityandRegion/2008/04/15/5294826.html
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8 comments:
Whoa. Interesting! I started reading, thinking 'this is bound to get stupid'. After all, excess insulin causes increased appetite and causes abdominal fat. Looks like it's more complicated than that. Thanks for the info!
OYB, great to hear from you! Thanks for your comment!
Excess belly fat appears to be far more catastrophic to one's health than ever thought before. Not only has belly fat been recently linked to an increased risk for dementia but now it makes you hungry? Yikes :^(
Wow! Very interesting.
Yet another health concern/link to gaining around the middle. It seems to be the worst place to carry extra weight when it comes to your health.
Thanks. Very informative.
One would assume that, due to the numbers of successful longterm weight losers, especially low carbers, that having a fat belly is not an insurmountable obstacle that requires a drug solution. Or else we fatties are doomed once a bit of belly fat shows up. Fat does actively put out hormones, making life difficult for many, but diet controls the amounts and types to a large extent. Insulin is a diet-controlled hormone.
"...having a fat belly is not an insurmountable obstacle that requires a drug solution."
Absolutely, anonymous. Thanks for your comment.
What I want, no demand, to know, is where did you get that picture of me? ;)
truth, it just took a quick call to your doctor's office. A little bribe to the receptionist and, presto, the photo arrived in my inbox.
Greasing the palm ALWAYS works.
So much for patient confidentiality, eh? ;^)
Neuropeptide? You mean a hormone? A receptor? What? This is not science this is some poor, dumb anorexic making 'pro-ana sense' or nonsense.
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