Post by rmarks1 on Dec 7, 2018 13:12:24 GMT -5
It's not for humans yet, but it works on lab animals.
Bob
Yes, it absolutely sounds to good to be true, but it could soon be possible to eat all the pizza, ice cream and other fatty foods you can stomach without putting on pounds.
Researchers at Flinders University in Australia say they found that when a single gene called RCAN1 was removed in mice, the rodents were able to eat a high fat diet without gaining weight. This held true even when the animals got especially gluttonous and gorged on fatty chow.
"We looked at a variety of different diets with various timespans from eight weeks up to six months, and in every case we saw health improvements in the absence of the RCAN1 gene," said Professor Damien Keating, who led the study, which has been published in the journal EMBO Reports.
The hope is that inhibiting the same gene in humans could help address the obesity epidemic and perhaps lead to new drugs to treat problems like diabetes.
"We know a lot of people struggle to lose weight or even control their weight for a number of different reasons. The findings in this study could mean developing a pill which would target the function of RCAN1 and may result in weight loss," Keating says.
It's worth mentioning, however, that experimental results in rodents do not always carry over to humans.
But if the effect of blocking RCAN1 does translate to people, it could be used to convert white fat, which accumulates in the body and can lead to health problems, into healthier brown fat that can more readily be burned for energy.
www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2018/12/06/new-discovery-may-soon-allow-you-to-eat-whatever-you-want-without-gaining-weight/#7269c1d51bda
Researchers at Flinders University in Australia say they found that when a single gene called RCAN1 was removed in mice, the rodents were able to eat a high fat diet without gaining weight. This held true even when the animals got especially gluttonous and gorged on fatty chow.
"We looked at a variety of different diets with various timespans from eight weeks up to six months, and in every case we saw health improvements in the absence of the RCAN1 gene," said Professor Damien Keating, who led the study, which has been published in the journal EMBO Reports.
The hope is that inhibiting the same gene in humans could help address the obesity epidemic and perhaps lead to new drugs to treat problems like diabetes.
"We know a lot of people struggle to lose weight or even control their weight for a number of different reasons. The findings in this study could mean developing a pill which would target the function of RCAN1 and may result in weight loss," Keating says.
It's worth mentioning, however, that experimental results in rodents do not always carry over to humans.
But if the effect of blocking RCAN1 does translate to people, it could be used to convert white fat, which accumulates in the body and can lead to health problems, into healthier brown fat that can more readily be burned for energy.
www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2018/12/06/new-discovery-may-soon-allow-you-to-eat-whatever-you-want-without-gaining-weight/#7269c1d51bda
Bob