Scientists at the University of Cambridge have made an important discovery about how the brain may be involved in weight gain.
Their study looked at the hypothalamus, a small part deep inside the brain that helps control hunger and fullness.
The researchers found that people who are overweight or obese tend to have a larger hypothalamus than those with a healthy weight.
Obesity is a serious health problem around the world. It increases the risk of diseases like diabetes and heart problems. One part of the brain, called the hypothalamus, plays a key role in deciding when we feel hungry or full. But because it is so small, it has been difficult to study in humans using normal brain scans.
Dr. Stephanie Brown, one of the lead researchers, explained that most of what we know about the hypothalamus comes from animal studies. To study it in humans, her team used a new method that combined brain scans with machine learning.
They analyzed scans from 1,351 young adults and looked at differences in the hypothalamus between people of different body weights.
The results showed that the hypothalamus was bigger in people who were overweight or obese. This increase in size was especially seen in areas of the brain that help regulate hunger and the feeling of fullness.
One possible explanation for this finding is inflammation. In animal studies, eating too much fatty food caused inflammation in the hypothalamus.
This made the animals eat more and gain weight. If this also happens in humans, then eating high-fat foods might cause the brain to swell slightly and change how it controls hunger and blood sugar. Over time, this could lead to weight gain.
The researchers also suggested that this inflammation might make the brain’s immune cells bigger, which could explain the larger hypothalamus seen in the scans.
Dr. Brown said, “A high-fat diet might cause inflammation in our hunger-control center. Over time, this could change when we feel full and how we handle sugar in our blood, making us gain weight.”
However, it’s still unclear whether a larger hypothalamus causes people to gain weight or if gaining weight causes the hypothalamus to grow. It might be a bit of both. More studies are needed to fully understand this relationship.
This research helps show how important the brain is in controlling weight. Understanding how the hypothalamus works could lead to better ways to treat or prevent obesity in the future.
The study was published in the journal NeuroImage: Clinical.
If you care about weight loss, please read studies about Scientists find secrets to long-term weight loss success and findings of Weight loss surgery linked to this mental disease.
If you care about obesity, please read studies about Obesity drugs can help prevent weight regain after weight loss surgery and findings of Research shows big hidden cause of obesity.
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