How does the ‘on-off switch’ for fat burning work?

What if there was an on-off switch that could turn your body into a fat-burning machine whenever you wanted? Scientists believe that all human bodies might just have one, or more precisely, a protei

By: Nirmalya Dutta | | Published: June 9, 2014 10:38 am

What if there was an on-off switch that could turn your body into a fat-burning machine whenever you wanted? Scientists believe that all human bodies might just have one, or more precisely, a protein that serves as the on-off switch. Also Read - Ganesh Chaturthi 2020: 4 reasons an eco-friendly Ganesha is good for you

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Scientists have identified a molecular pathway that controls the conversion of unhealthy white fat into energy-burning beige fat. Researchers led by the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, also found that a protein, Grb10, serves as the on-off switch for mTORC1 signalling and the ‘beigeing’ of fat. The protein is stimulated by cold stress, which causes the body to burn more energy. ‘We know that if we want to keep our body lean, we have to get rid of extra nutrients in the body, which means burning more energy,’ said senior author Feng Liu, professor of pharmacology at the UT Health Science Center and director of the Metabolic Syndrome Research Center at Xiangya Second Hospital, Central South University, in Changsha, China. Also Read - Weight loss diet: How to eat healthy in a restaurant when you want to lose weight

‘Understanding how beigeing is controlled is so very important because if we can improve energy expenditure, we can reduce obesity,’ Liu said. Fat tissues are important regulators of metabolism. Having too much white adipose tissue leads to obesity and other chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes.

‘Normally when we eat something, we store it in white fat. For the extra food we eat, it is better to release it, not store it,’ said co-author Lily Dong, professor of cellular and structural biology at the UT Health Science Center. ‘So finding a way to turn the white fat into beige and burn the energy that normally we store would have high therapeutic potential for the treatment of obesity and its related diseases. Dr Liu has identified the pathway to do this,’ Dong said.

The mTORC1 pathway is also involved in ageing, cardiovascular disease and cancer, so identifying the regulator of this pathway, Grb10, should be very informative for researching other fields, Liu said.

The study is published in the journal Cell Metabolism.

What is obesity?

Obesity refers to increased body fat but it is not same as being overweight. A person who is overweight need not be obese but a person who is obese is overweight. Overweight is the term used for a person who weighs more. The weight can be muscle weight, bone weight or fat weight. But a person is said to be obese when he/she consumes more number of calories than the number of calories used by the body. If your Body Mass Index or BMI (calculated by dividing height by weight) is more than 30, then you are obese. Obesity is becoming a global epidemic not only in developed nations but also in developing nations like India. Obesity is linked to a host of lifestyle disorders like diabetes, heart diseases, hypertension and stroke. Easy availability of sugars and fats, messing with our body clocks and an increased sedentary lifestyle are responsible for obesity. Being overweight and obesity are the fifth leading risk for global deaths with at least 2.8 million adults dying each year due to them. In this section, you’ll find articles like the need to control obesity, hazards of being obese, childhood obesity etc. You can also look for ways to fight obesity, for ex: exercises for obese people, bariatric surgery, possibility of eating obesity without healthy diet and exercise, healthy food option to lose weight quickly.

With inputs from PTI

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Published : June 9, 2014 10:38 am

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