How brain regulates fat burning

Scientists have discovered a molecular switch in the brain that regulates fat burning and could provide a way to control weight gain following dieting. Monash University researchers have identified a molecular switch in the brain that potentially controls the human body's capacity to store fat, particularly after long periods of "famine" or weight loss-a process that underlies yo-yo dieting, where the body regain the weight lost caused by dieting.

Being able to control this switch may be a therapy for obesity and other metabolic disorders such as Type 2 diabetes. Associate Professor Zane Andrews and his colleagues at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute have identified a protein in mice, called carnitine acetyltransferase (Crat), in hunger-processing brain cells that regulate fat storage after dieting.

During dieting, the body burn more fat to provide enough energy. But at the same time the brains fight to conserve energy and, as soon as food becomes available, the body switches from burning to storing fat and instead uses ingested calories from food.

The international research team discovered the Crat protein and developed a mouse that had this protein genetically switched off. These mice, when fasted or fed after a fast, consume their fat reserves at a greater than normal rate.

Repeated dieting, or yo-yo dieting, may lead to weight gain because the brain interprets these diets as short famines and urges the person to store more fat for future shortages. For the first time the Crat protein in hunger-processing brain cells has been identified as the switch that instructs the body to replace the lost weight through increased fat storage.

Manipulating this protein offers the opportunity to trick the brain and not replace the lost weight through increased appetite and storage of fat, regulating this protein can ensure that diet-induced weight loss stays off rather than sneaking back.
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How bones affect appetite and metabolism

Human skeleton is more than the structure supporting the muscles and other tissues, it produces osteocalcin hormone. The hormone affects how we metabolize sugar and fat. It increases insulin production which reduces blood glucose levels, it can also protects us from obesity by increasing the use of energy.

Changes in blood concentrations of osteocalcin may stave off the development of diabetes. Osteocalcin is produced by osteoblasts, the cells responsible for making human bones. The hormone builds up in bone, and then, through a series of chemical reactions, is released into the blood.

Inactive osteocalcin has one more piece than active osteocalcin. The researchers examined in mice the different enzymes present in cells where osteocalcin was produced. Furin causes osteocalcin to become active and the hormone is then released into the blood.

When there was no furin in bone cells, inactive osteocalcin built up and was still released, but this led to an increase in blood glucose levels and a reduction in energy expenditure and insulin production. The absence of furin reduced the mice's appetite, osteocalcin has no effect on appetite, the existence of a new bone hormone that controls food intake.
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Use synbiotics for gut health

Probiotics are live bacteria that are good for digestive system. Probiotics are said to keep gut and digestion healthy by replacing the bad bacteria with good one.

Synbiotics combined a probiotic bacterial strain with prebiotics, which actually feed and increase the good bacteria in the gut.

Probiotics can not survive for a long periods of time, heat and stomach acid can kill them, making them ineffective before digestion.

 Synbiotics are the best way to ensure a maximum benefit from the ingested probiotics. It is the combination of probiotics and prebiotics to feed the human microbiome. Synbiotics could have beneficial effects on obesity and diabetes.

Research has linked our gut health to a range of conditions like obesity, depression, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. Probiotics may prevent and treat fatty liver disease and keep it from advancing to liver cancer.

 Pre-and pro-biotics work together to provide a combined benefit, while the probiotic settles in and pushes out the bad bacteria, the prebiotic feeds the growth of positive strains.

A healthy, balanced microbiome breaks down foods, protects human from infection, trains immune system and produces vitamins K and B12. It also controls mood, anxiety and appetite.
Imbalances in the gut are linked to a range of conditions.

The composition of human gut microbiota is determined by genes but it can also be influenced by lifestyle factors such as diet, alcohol intake, exercise, and medications.
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Duzallo drugs for treating gout

Duzallo is a prescription medicine that contains two medicines, a URAT1 inhibitor called lesinurad and a xanthine oxidase inhibitor called allopurinol. It is used to lower uric acid levels in the blood of people with gout.

Active ingredients are lesinurad and allopurinol. Inactive ingredients: crospovidone, hydroxypropyl cellulose, hypromellose, lactose monohydrate, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, iron oxide red, iron oxide yellow, titanium dioxide, and triacetin.

Duzallo can cause serious side effects, like kidney problems. People taking Duzallo may have kidney problems such as a sudden decrease in kidney function (acute kidney failure).
Duzallo can affect bone marrow and cause low red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.

Other side effects are: skin rash; blistering of the skin, mouth, nose, and genitals, painful red or purple skin that looks burned and peels off, joint pain; swollen glands red, painful, watery eyes; persistent itching; hives, fever, loss of appetite, weight loss, fatigue, nausea, heartburn and diarrhea
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Cadmium increases the risk of cancer of the womb

Cadmium is a heavy metal that is produced during the smelting of other metals like zinc, lead and copper.
Cadmium in kidneys and liver of animals, shellfish, mushrooms and cigarettes increases a woman's risk of womb cancer.

Cadmium is a chemical that mimic the effects of estrogen in the body. It disrupts the hormonal balance and encourage rapid cell division. Foods rich in cadmium must be eaten in moderation.

Endometrial cancer known as cancer of the womb, has been associated with estrogen exposure because cadmium mimics estrogen, it may lead to an increased growth of the endometrium, contributing to an increased risk of endometrial cancer.

It is common in older women but can occur at any age in matured women. Common symptoms are abnormal bleeding from the vagina, heavier periods, vagina bleeding in between normal periods, pain in the lower abdomen and pain during sex, loss of appetite, tiredness and nausea.
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Food preservatives interfere with hormone and cause obesity

Food preservatives are added to foods to preserve them for long-term use.
Scientists tested the effects of endocrine disruptors on humans. The three chemicals tested are: Butylhydroxytoluene BHT, Perfluorooctanoic acid PFOA and tributyltin TBT.

Butylhydroxytoluene BHT, is an antioxidant commonly added to breakfast cereals and other foods to protect nutrients and keep fats from turning rancid.

Perfluorooctanoic acid PFOAis a polymer found in some cookware, carpeting and other products.

Tributyltin TBT is a compound in paints that can make its way into water and accumulate in seafood.

Scientists used hormone-producing tissues grown from human stem cells to demonstrate how exposure to these chemicals can interfere with the digestive system and the brain.

 These chemicals enable people to continue eating, causing them to gain weight. Each of these chemicals damaged hormones that communicate between the gut and the brain.

 BHT produced some of the strongest detrimental effects, these compounds can disrupt hormones that are critical to gut-to-brain signaling and preventing obesity.

Scientists obtained blood samples from adults, and then, by introducing reprogramming genes, converted the cells into induced pluripotent stem cells.

 Then, using these stem cells, they grew human epithelium tissue, which lines the gut, and neuronal tissues of the brain's hypothalamus region, which regulates appetite and metabolism.

Scientists exposed the tissues to BHT, PFOA and TBT, one by one and also in combination, and discovered that the chemicals disrupted networks that prepare signaling hormones to maintain their structure and be transported out of the cells, thus making them ineffective.

The chemicals also damaged the cellular structures that convert food and oxygen into energy and drive the body's metabolism. Because the chemical damage occurred in young cells, a defective hormone system could impact a pregnant mother and her fetus.
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Causes of type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is a disorder of metabolism, the condition occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin or the insulin produced does not work properly.

Insulin resistance means that the cells of the body do not fully respond to insulin that is released. This makes glucose to remains in the blood instead of being moved into the cells.

Common symptoms of Type 2 diabetes are: extreme thirst, frequent urination fatigue, blurred vision, sudden weight loss and increased appetite.

It can reduce life expectancy if it is not managed properly and cause different health complications. These factors increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Age increases the risk of diabetes, diabetes is common among adults, aging and insulin resistance are closely connected because old people gain weight and become inactive.

Another risk factor is being overweight
especially if you are large around the middle because it increases pressure on body’s ability to use insulin properly to control blood sugar levels.

The pressure of blood flowing through the arteries varies at different times in the heartbeat cycle and the systolic pressure measures the pressure when heart contracts and blood is forced through the arteries. High blood pressure can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Genetics can contribute to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Parents can transfer it to their children. Mutations in any gene involved in controlling glucose levels can increase risk of type 2 diabetes. These include genes that control: production of glucose, production and regulation of insulin and how glucose levels are measured in the body

High blood glucose levels during pregnancy may leads to the development of type 2 diabetes in future.

Healthy eating, an active lifestyle and regular medical examination can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.
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Facts about body fat

Fat is known as adipose tissue, it is a hormonal and metabolic processes. Adipose tissue stores energy, regulates metabolism and insulin in the body.

Body fat is divided into two; essential and storage fat. Essential fat is needed for daily activities while storage is stored under the skin. 

Fat is an excess calories stored in the body, it produces hormones that human body need to function properly.

Fat loss affects metabolism; low fat in the body will leads to low levels of leptin. Less leptin reduces metabolism.
Limiting calorie intake reduces fat and decreases appetite.

 Fat can be created without food, when body needs new fat cells, stem cells will change into fat over bone or muscle cells.

Fat is stored in the body in the form of triglycerides, free fatty acid FFA.  It secretes different hormones. Too much or too little fat can increase the risk of diabetes

Excess fat can increase the risk of developing cancer; fat secret hormones that aids cancer growth. Dieting can not reduce fat cells, human body has 15 to 35 billions of fat cells.
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Common weight-loss mistakes

Lossing weight and maintaining a healthy weight have nothing to do with eating less or fasting. Eating the right food is the key to weight loss.

Avoid foods that have additives, artificial sweeteners and preservatives. Putting the right foods on your plate prevent counting of calories and measuring food. Over processed foods will increase your weight, avoid it.

Combining different foods will aids your goal of weight loss faster than eating a particular food. Plan to remain healthy while trying to loose weight.

 Nuts are good for weight loss, oleic acid in nuts prevent cravings for extra plates of food, grapefruit reduces insulin levels: the lower your insulin levels, the lower your appetite for food.

Eat variety of fruits and vegetables, healthy proteins for muscle mass and reduction of appetite, low calories carbohydrates, drink enough water and engaging in regular physical activities.
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How brain controls appetite

According to scientists, leptin is a hormone released by fasting tissue that reduces appetite while grelin hormone is released by stomach tissue that make us to eat more.

Professor Kazuyoshi Ukena of Hiroshima University discovered Neurosecretory Protein GL NPGL, and explained that hunger and energy systems are complex.

Professor Ukena first discovered NPGL in chickens when he discovered that growing birds grow rapidly even if they don't eat good food. Researchers at HU
performed a DNA database search and discovered that  NPGL is present in vertebrates.

Professor Ukena's team fed three groups of mice, on different diets, the first set of mice- low-calorie diet for 24 hours, the second group - high fat diet for 5 weeks and the third group high fat diet for 13 weeks.

They discovered that the mice  fed on a low calorie diet have an increase in NPGL expression, while the 5-week high-fat-diet group saw a large decrease in NPGL expression. Mice fed on high fat diet are not sensitive to appetite suppressing effects.

NPGL  increases appetite when energy levels fall and reduces appetite during energy overload.