Sunday, March 27, 2011

Junk food mums have junk food babies

A new study involving rats suggests that pregnant and breastfeeding women who indulge in high levels of fat and sugar are likely to have children who indulge in the same types of food.

According to the research, this happens because the high fat and high sugar diet leads to changes in the fetal brain's reward pathway, altering food preferences...

Pollution Links to Obesity and Diabetes

Ohio State University has a new research revealed in the United States that childhood exposure to common air pollutants increases the risk in obesity and developing diabetes. Daily Express reported that those who are brought up in the city and are exposed to microscopic pollutants from car exhaust and burning fuels can lead to gaining weight in youngsters.

Researchers also discovered that pollutants can also increase the risk of developing of diabetes by increasing the insulin resistant of the individual. The results that have been shown are based on the tests done on mice and the pollution levels that match to the level on urban areas. A group of baby mice was been exposed to microscopic pollution while the other group of baby mice were exposed to a filtered air. The age of the mice was according to the age of toddlers and to late adolescent humans. Mice from both group were fed normal or in a high fat diet.

On the study, the animals on a high fat diet gained weight while the other group that exposed to the atmospheric pollutants have elevated levels of blood sugar. Researchers found out that they have also high level of insulin resistance and high level of fat on their abdomen and on their internal organs.

Mice on a high fat diet who breathed in toxic air did not increase their weight than those who are in high fat diet exposed to fresh air. Mice that been exposed to pollutants with a normal diet have increased level of body fat. This suggests that the exposure to pollutants would trigger to weight gain...

Is bacterial chatter behind mental illness, obesity?

The chatter between bugs present in your gut and your brain plays a key role in bringing on psychiatric illness, intestinal diseases and obesity among others.

This 'communication of the body and the brain influence metabolic disorders, such as obesity and diabetes', says Jane Foster, associate professor in psychiatry and behavioural neurosciences at McMaster University.

'We have a hypothesis in my lab that the state of your immune system and your gut bacteria - which are in constant communication - influences your personality,' Foster said.

Using germ-free mice, Foster's research shows gut bugs influence how the brain is wired for learning and memory, the journal Neurogastroenterology and Motility reports...

Maternal Obesity May Lead To Infertility In The Next Generation

Levels of the hormone ghrelin are low in obese women and a recent study accepted for publication in Endocrinology, a publication of The Endocrine Society, reports that mice whose mothers had low ghrelin levels were less fertile due to a defect in implantation...

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

In The Dark Horizon Of Obesity And Diabetes, Klotho Brings A Ray Of Hope

An important discovery in mice may make a big difference in people's waistlines thanks to a team of Harvard scientists who found that reducing the function of a transmembrane protein, called Klotho, in obese mice with high blood sugar levels produced lean mice with reduced blood sugar levels. This protein also exists in humans, suggesting that selectively targeting Klotho could lead to a new class of drugs to reduce obesity and possibly Type 2 diabetes for people. This finding was recently published online in The FASEB Journal.

"Our study is a small step toward reducing the sufferings of obese and diabetic individuals to bring back the joy of healthy life," said M. Shawkat Razzaque, M.D., Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Department of Oral Medicine, Infection and Immunity at Harvard School of Dental Medicine in Boston. "In the dark horizon of obesity and diabetes, Klotho brings a ray of hope."

To make this discovery, Razzaque and colleagues fed increased amounts of food to leptin-deficient mice with the Klotho protein which caused obesity with high blood sugar levels. A second set of mice was bred that was both leptin- and Klotho-deficient, and was fed the same diet as the first set. The second set of mice was lean and had low blood sugar levels, suggesting that reduced Klotho function may not only diminish obesity, but also decrease blood sugar levels. Furthermore, mice without Klotho function gained no body weight after eating a high-fat diet, while mice with functioning Klotho proteins gained body weight following a high-fat diet.

"In Greek mythology, Klotho was the youngest of three fates, the one responsible for spinning the thread of life; since then we have learned that obesity cuts the thread short," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "It's good to know that the new molecular biology of Klotho points to agents that will keep us fit and well-spun."...

Sunday, March 06, 2011

Resveratrol can reduce body fat: Study

Resveratrol may be a useful tool for reducing body fat, according to a new study.

For her thesis, Arrate Lasa, nutrition and obesity research team member at the University of the Basque Country, studied the fat-reducing effect of Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) and resveratrol.

CLA and resveratrol are two functional ingredients that, in various experiments on living beings and in vitro, have proved to have a fat-reducing effect.

On the one hand, the properties attributed to CLA indicate that it prevents weight gain and the accumulation of body fat through inhibiting the synthesis of fat and increasing the oxidation of fatty acids.

However, its effects when applied in a hypocaloric diet for the treatment of obesity are unknown.

On the other, it is known that resveratrol has hypolipemiant properties, but its effect on the use of accumulated fat has not been extensively analysed.

Lasa's thesis showed the results obtained after treatment with CLA in hamsters subjected to energy restriction and the effect of resveratrol on accumulated fat and lipolytic activity in cell cultures of adipocytes of murinae and humans.

The results showed that CLA does not foment weight or body fat loss, induced by an energy restriction diet.

Neither does it induce greater lipolysis, nor improvement in serum parametres, in glucose homeostasis or insulin function to any greater extent than with the slimming diet itself.

On the contrary, resveratrol reduces the accumulation of triglycerides, in part by activation of lipolysis, in both the adipocytes of mice and of humans...

Study: Father's diet can influence metabolism of kids

...Working with mice, the researchers reported in the journal Cell that paternal diet can influence the production of genes that direct metabolism in first-generation offspring, and particularly influence how they're able to process cholesterol.

The study is one of a number done recently that look at how the environment and lifestyle of a previous generation can influence the genetics of the next, going beyond traits that are known to be passed from generation to generation through mutations in DNA.

"Knowing what your parents were doing before you were conceived is turning out to be important in determining what disease factors you may be carrying," said Dr. Oliver Rando, an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts and lead investigator for the study.

"Our findings suggest there are many ways that parents can tell their children things."

Rando and his colleagues fed two groups of male mice different diets — one a low-protein diet, the other standard chow; while all the females in the test got the standard diet before breeding started.

They found that the offspring of the male mice fed the low-protein diet showed a marked increase in genes responsible for blood fats and cholesterol breakdown compared to those sired by mice fed the standard diet.

Although the study involved mice, the research actually has its roots in several human observational studies that suggested there was a paternal and even grand-paternal effect from diet on the risks for diabetes, obesity and heart disease...

Scientists Discover Genetic Switch That Increases Muscle Blood Supply

Many people suffer from a devastating condition known as critical limb ischemia (CLI) that can lead to muscle wasting and even amputation. The disease is linked to the blockage of blood flow to the skeletal muscle and current treatment options include rehabilitative exercise and surgical bypass of blood vessels. New preclinical research suggests there may be a way to restore blood supply in skeletal muscle without traditional intervention.

Scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies announced in the March 2 print issue of the journal Cell Metabolism that they have identified a genetic switch that can increase the number of blood vessels in the skeletal muscle of non-exercising mice.

Skeletal muscle is composed of two types of fibers: slow twitch fibers that inherently have a dense supply of blood vessels and fast twitch fibers that have fewer blood vessels. The researchers used a gene switch known as estrogen-related receptor gamma (ERR gamma) that when activated in fast twitch fibers of mice by genetic engineering, converts these fibers into slow twitch fibers.

"This consequently resulted in a striking increase in muscle blood supply as measured by imaging and angiography," said Vihang Narkar, Ph.D., lead investigator and assistant professor of molecular medicine at the UTHealth Medical School. "These genetically-transformed muscles also acquire other characteristics of slow muscles, such as improved metabolic capacity and fatigue resistance that can be additionally beneficial in resolving muscle vascular disease."

Narkar, whose UTHealth laboratory is in the Center for Diabetes and Obesity Research at the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases, said, "The identification of the estrogen-related receptor gamma vascular switch will open potential therapeutic avenues for treating CLI and other cardiovascular diseases linked to defective blood supply."

Colin Barker, M.D., assistant professor of cardiology at the UTHealth Medical School, said new research is needed to help people with peripheral artery disease, particularly those with the most severe form - critical limb ischemia. "Poor circulation in the legs can lead to muscle wasting, infections, severe pain, and amputation," he said. "Dr. Narkar's work potentially has many useful applications. It is very much in the translational medicine arena."

"Understanding the gene network that specifies high vascular supply to muscle gives us a new and very powerful tool to promote improved muscle performance and the promise of fitness, especially for those who cannot work out," says Ronald M. Evans, Ph.D., senior author, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and professor in the Salk Institute's Gene Expression Laboratory. "This is good news for people with heart disease, frailty, peripheral vascular disease, and more generally those who have a variety of medical problems where exercise could be helpful but is not possible to achieve."

In 2010, an estimated 2.8 to 3.5 million U.S. citizens suffered from critical limb ischemia, according to a report by THE SAGE GROUP, an independent research and consulting company specializing in peripheral artery disease. CLI risk factors include diabetes, obesity and smoking...