Humans have an in-built weighing scale to warn of fat overdose: study

PanARMENIAN.Net - The human body has an in-built weighing scale that can monitor fat and signal the brain when there is an overdose. A group of researchers have found a previously unidentified body fat regulatory system. After sensing excessive body weight, this mechanism just like bathroom scales, signals the brain to reduce food intake too, NDTV says.

According to a latest study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences there is an inbuilt weighing scale in the body, and more knowledge about the sensing mechanism could lead to a better understanding of the causes of obesity

The researchers explained that they have found the support for the existence of internal bathroom scales. The weight of the body is registered in the lower extremities. If the body weight tends to increase, a signal is sent to the brain to decrease food intake and keep the body weight constant.

For the study, the researchers analysed obese rodents that were made artificially heavier by loading with extra weights. The animals lost almost as much weight as the artificial load. The extra weights caused body fat to decrease and blood glucose levels to improve.

In the course of the study, the scientists also discovered a previously undiscovered mechanism that operates to regulate fat mass entirely independently of leptin. The mechanism that the scientists have now identified regulates body fat mass independently of leptin, and it's possible that leptin combined with activation of the internal body scales can become an effective treatment for obesity

The mechanism could explain well the frequently observed correlation between the time a person spends sitting and increases in metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes.

The researchers noted that much sitting time led to decreased loading of osteocytes in the weight-bearing long bones and, thereby, the homeostatic regulation of body weight does not activate its afferent signal to the brain, which leads to obesity.