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| Source: pichuapp.com |
The United States has rising obesity rates. At least, that is what is heard on the news periodically over the last few years. What is to be done? Lifestyle change? How can science help if any? According to new scientific research announced recently, researchers have discovered a 'trigger' mechanism which might lead to over eating as shown below:
Obesity involves the complex interplay of diet, lifestyle, genetics, and even the bacteria living in the gut. But there are other less-appreciated factors that are likely involved, and a new NIH-supported study suggests one that you probably never would have imagined: antenna-like sensory projections on brain cells.The study in mice, published in the journal Nature Genetics [1], suggests these neuronal projections, called primary cilia, are a key part of a known “hunger circuit,” which receives signals from other parts of the body to control appetite. The researchers add important evidence in mouse studies showing that changes in the primary cilia can produce a short circuit, impairing the brain’s ability to regulate appetite and leading to overeating and obesity.
Click on the link above to read about just how the 'primary cilia' play a key part in the 'hunger circuit'. The discovery add more information into the relevant factors which might trigger the 'hunger circuit' by sensing a hormone leptin. The sensing is wired up into our brain to the hypothalamus - which controls crucial body functions such as hunger, thirst, temperature control linked to emotional responses. Exciting right?
As technology improves, the advances in medicine should follow accordingly - right? I have mentioned on this site previously that nothing is really new about rates of certain diseases such as different types of cancers as compared to the last century. What has changed is our (science and in turn medicine's) ability to detect a disease such as a type of cancer earlier on in a patient's life. Earlier detection leads to a higher probability of treating the cancer more effectively.
Although, some diseases (and obesity might be considered a disease in the future) are difficult to detect and treat. Over the last few decades, medicine has advanced quite a bit in understanding different mechanisms which lead to obesity - as stated in the excerpt above. Which makes the problem more complex to solve. Developments such as understanding the interplay of the "primary cilia" and "over eating" are welcome and add to an eventual solution down the road.
Unraveling a new circuit in the pathway of obesity will add to researchers understanding of the causes leading up to obesity in the future. Of course, as with other diseases, researchers are discovering that from an evolutionary standpoint, the human body has multiple avenues by which a disease can progress. Otherwise, discovering a 'single circuit' or 'single pathway' is more easily treatable (i.e. by creating a target drug for that single circuit) from a drug discovery or medical standpoint.
Conclusion...
Although the research above is completely surprising for promising treatments of obesity in the future, we should not bet on a single treatment just yet. Today, as has been shown still to be the most effective is to change your lifestyle habits and incorporate exercise into your daily routine. A 'magic bullet' may be possible through science down the line. Still, the surest way to control the problem is to handle the root cause early on with natural changes which at the end of the day are more effective in the long run. Calorie intake cannot exceed calorie output - simple.
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