Fats tissue could commit weight to reminiscence.
For folks dwelling with weight problems, dropping pounds will help cut back the danger of well being issues reminiscent of sort 2 diabetes or heart problems (SN: 2/29/24). However dropping pounds and retaining it off is troublesome, and it’s unclear why. A brand new research in mice and human cells exhibits that the battle could partially be due to genetic modifications that may persist even after weight reduction.
Chemical tags on DNA that act as genetic switchboards, known as epigenetics, can management which genes are turned on or off (SN: 2/18/15). In fats tissue, the standing of some genes and these tags appear to create a mobile “reminiscence” of weight problems, researchers report November 18 in Nature. That reminiscence could suppress metabolism and velocity nutrient consumption, making it exhausting for weight reduction efforts to stay, the findings counsel.
The findings level towards a cause for the “yo-yo” cycle, wherein folks repeatedly lose and regain weight, says Ferdinand von Meyenn, an epigeneticist at ETH Zurich. “How can we enhance that? How can we modify that? As a result of in any other case [the genetic changes] shall be there and other people could have a tough time getting over that,” he says.
Von Meyenn and colleagues in contrast adipose tissue — which accommodates fats cells and different varieties of cells — from folks with and with out weight problems. Genes linked to metabolism had been much less lively in tissue from folks with weight problems, even after these folks misplaced weight.
Experiments in mice additionally confirmed that some genes concerned in metabolism had been nonetheless turned off in previously overweight animals. A lot of these genes had been linked to epigenetic modifications that would affect how DNA will get switched on or off, von Meyenn says.
What’s extra, fats cells from previously overweight mice soak up vitamins a lot quicker than cells from lean mice, the workforce discovered. After the mice misplaced weight, animals with weight problems reminiscence had been quicker to realize weight.
Whereas dropping pounds can enhance metabolic well being, the epigenetic modifications that stick round counsel that for some folks, retaining it off is an uphill battle, von Meyenn says. Folks taking weight reduction and diabetes medicine like Ozempic also can regain weight in the event that they cease therapy, hinting that the medicine don’t regulate the genetic modifications (SN: 12/13/23). However maybe different medicine or a mix of therapies might sooner or later wipe fats cells’ recollections.
