The culprit sabotages your efforts to return to moderate eating after a weekend of fullness is the brain.
New findings from a study by the University of Texas Southwest Pharmacy Center show that a portion of fat in some foods will enter our brains. There, fat molecules cause the brain to order body cells to ignore signals that suppress appetite from leptin and insulin - hormones involved in regulating body weight.
Researchers have also found that this phenomenon is especially true for fats called panmitic acid.
Dr. Deborah Clegg, lecturer in internal medicine at the University of Texas, told The Journal of Clinical Investigation last September: 'Normally, the body will know when we have eaten enough, but the thing This does not always happen if we eat a very delicious dish. '
'What we see through this study is that the entire chemical process that takes place in the brain can change over a very short period of time. The results show that when you eat a high-fat dish, the brain will 'catch' fatty acids, and you suddenly become resistant to insulin and leptin, ' continued Dr. Clegg. 'And because the brain doesn't tell you it's time to stop eating, you'll continue to eat too much.'
Dr. Clegg said in animals, this effect lasts for 3 days. This has the ability to explain why so many people say they feel faster than usual on the first Monday of the week, after eating well on Friday or Saturday.
Although scientists already know that eating a lot of fat can cause 'resistance' to insulin, people still don't know much about the mechanism that leads to this phenomenon as well as which specific fat is easy to cause. This is the most. Dr. Clegg said she doubted the brain could play a role in the 'resistance' to insulin, because the brain tolerates a portion of the fat we eat - whether it's good for health or oils. Unsaturated saturated fats are recommended in butter and beef.
From these questions, the team tried to clarify the effects of fat on animal brains. Researchers carried fat into animal bodies in different ways: injecting different types of fat into the brain, transmitting fat into the body through the carotid artery, or feeding animals fat through the tube. plucked in the mouth three times a day. The animals all get the same amount of calories and fat, the only difference is the type of fat that is included. The types of fats used in experiments include: panmitic acid, monounsaturated fatty acids, and oleic acid.
Panmitic acid is a common saturated fatty acid that occurs in many foods such as butter, cheese, milk and beef.In contrast, oleic acid is one of the most common unsaturated fatty acids - grape oil and olive oil are common sources of oleic acid.
'We found that panmitic acid specifically reduces the ability of leptin and insulin to activate intracellular signaling waves,' Dr. Clegg said. 'Oleic acid is not.'
Dr. Clegg said that although this is the result of an animal, it gives recommendations that people should limit the intake of saturated fats.'It will make you eat more,' she said.
Another important finding is that this mechanism starts from the brain, and it is the source of later signs of obesity on the body , according to Dr.
Other researchers from the University of Texas participated in the study: Dr. Carol Elias - lecturer in internal medicine, Boman Irani and William Holland - postdoctoral fellows at the same unit. In addition, researchers at the University of Cincinnati, Tennessee Valley Medical System, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and the University of Paris also have a lot of support for the research team.
The project is funded by the National Research Institute for Kidney, Digestive and Diabetes Diseases.