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It is not easy to maintain a healthy weight. Even when you manage to lose a few pounds, they come back often.
Why does the body seem to encourage obesity?
New research suggests that the answer lies far in human evolution, with an anti-starvation mechanism that causes the body to store fat.
The key to this mechanism is a protein called "RAGE," according to scientists at the University of New York (NYU) working with mice. They believe that RAGE has evolved to prevent old humans from starving when food was scarce.
But today, in times of plenty, there is a small problem: RAGE is designed to combat cell stress caused by eat too much.
The protein seems to confuse this stress with the similarity to starvation, and thus prevents the body from burning fat. The result: the fat becomes easy to accumulate, but difficult to eliminate.
Nevertheless, the NYU team said that all this was in the money because the research could lead to anti-obesity drugs.
Far from
"We think RAGE is targetable.When we put Rage-free mice in a high-fat diet, they ate food but did not become obese," said study author Ann Marie. Schmidt, NYU School of Medicine.
And a lack of RAGE seemed to be safe, at least for mice. "When you totally eliminate RAGE in mice, they have normal reproduction and no problem with cognition," she said.
The researchers hope that since RAGE appears to be active only during periods of metabolic stress rather than during daily activities, its elimination will not cause problems.
But do not hope for the moment a drug suppressing RAGE.
Schmidt has not been long in finding that such a drug is still far away, as research is currently focused on mice. The results of animal studies do not always translate to humans.
Schmidt said the potential was exciting.
In addition to limiting the body's ability to burn fat, RAGE can also contribute to inflammation throughout the body. Thus, alongside the control of obesity, the elimination of the RAGE protein could help mitigate some of the inflammatory consequences of obesity, such as diabetes, cancer, hardening of the arteries and Alzheimer's disease, according to the researchers.
No quick fix for obesity
Dr. Michael Wood, medical director of bariatric surgery (weight loss) at Harper University's Detroit Medical Center, said the study was interesting although very early.
And, Wood said, "Obesity is a very complicated problem, and I think these results are an oversimplification."
But Wood noted that it's possible that the RAGE protein plays a role in being overweight. This is just not likely only factor in the development of obesity.
"I do not think that a single switch or anything in particular can solve this complex problem – there is no silver bullet for obesity," he said.
At present, if someone wants to lose weight, he has to commit to changing his lifestyle, Wood said. And that's true even if someone is undergoing a weight loss operation. He added that the most significant change comes from eating fewer calories. Exercise is a healthy habit, but only a small part of weight loss.
The study was published online July 16 in the journal Cell reports. Funding was provided by the American Heart Association, the US Public Health Service and the American Diabetes Association.
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