The memory of obesity resides in cells and may explain the yo-yo effect of dieting.
Adipose tissue retainsmemory’ of obesity this persists after weight loss, which may increase the likelihood of weight regain and may help explain the yo-yo effect daily allowanceaccording to experiments with mouse and human cells.
This memory is described in a study published in the journal Nature, carried out by the Federal Polytechnic School of Zurich and in which researcher Daniel Castellano-Castillo from the Malaga Institute of Biomedical Research and Nanomedicine Platform (IBIMA) participated.
The team used fat cells from 18 people without obesity and another 20 before and after weight loss after bariatric surgery. They also studied mouse cells.
The investigation showed that That obesity causes epigenetic changes features of the nucleus of fat cells that persist even after a diet.
“fat cells”They remember the state of excess weight and can return to it more easily.“said study leader Ferdinand von Meyenne from ETH.
Mice with these epigenetic markers gained weight faster when they again had access to a high-fat diet, meaning they experienced a yo-yo effect.
Epigenetics
Epigenetics is a branch of genetics that is based not on the sequence of genetic components, but on small chemical markers characteristic of these components.
The sequence of the main components has changed over time; We all inherit them from our parents, but epigenetic markers are more dynamic, so environmental factors, eating habits or body conditions such as obesity can modify them throughout your life.
But they can remain stable for years, sometimes decades, during which time they play a key role in determining which genes are active in our cells and which are not, ETH explained in a statement.
“Epigenetics tells a cell what type of cell it is and what it should do.“explains Laura Hint, one of the study’s signatories.
Obesity of memory
The study suggests, according to the researchers, the existence of an obesity-inducing memory based primarily on stable epigenetic changes in mouse adipocytes and possibly other cell types.
All these changes apparently prepare cells for pathological reactionscontributing to the yo-yo effect often seen with dieting.
If in the future we could target these changes in fat cells and perhaps other cells, we could improve weight control and long-term health.