A man eats a burger in a hurry. (Photo : GettyImages/ Joe Raedle)
Scientists might have uncovered a way to stop overeating. This study suggests that certain brain cells can send signals that stop a person from eating too much.
The study was done on mice and it showed that the cells fired and sent signals to other parts of the brain, India Times reported. The mice decreased the amount of food they ate in a day by about 25 percent.
The director of Johns Hopkins University in the U.S. Richard Huganir explained that they have discovered a certain type of brain cells that sent off signals which then made their lab mice stop eating afterwards.
Huganir continued that when they switched off the satiety cells in the brain of the mice, they did the opposite. The specimens ate more and even doubled their weight in just three weeks.
The scientists believe that sugar levels in the bloodstream are involved in triggering when this certain switch is turned on during a meal, according to the Independent. This will let a person feel full but if it fails this leads to obesity, which is a problem in the US right now.
The switch is an enzyme called OGT and it was deliberately taken out in certain parts of the brain of a mouse. One of the jobs of this certain enzyme is to add a chemical derivative of glucose to proteins which is important to certain nerve cells in the brain that controls appetite.
When the enzyme was removed, the mice ate more. Olof Lagerlof, a researcher from Johns Hopkins and the first author of the research that was published in the journal Science, has said that the mice did not understand that they had enough food in their stomachs so they kept eating.
Huganir continued that it is likely the same mechanism and cell type in the brain of the mice are also found in humans. His research team thinks that this type of appetite control mechanism is present in the human brain too. He does clarify that his team needs to do more research for that.
The researchers believe that this new discovery could pave the way to new drugs or treatments for overeating. In the future, these treatments might be able to control a person's appetite more effectively compared to dieting.
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