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outlier -> High Fat Food Scars Hunger Control Area In The Brains of Rats (1/9/2012 8:00:41 PM)
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I like this story from CNN Health for a few reasons.
They give a link to the original study.
They admit that not all rat studies apply to humans and
they give an article explaining the relationships.
They give links so you can evaluate the credentials of the commentators.
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/06/study-high-fat-foods-cause-brain-scarring/
Excerpt: "The human body is designed to regulate how much fuel is stored as fat
through a process called energy homeostasis, the study's lead author Dr. Michael Schwartz says.
For a normal-weight person, that's good. But once a person becomes obese, his or her body
seems to want to stay at that new weight permanently.
"That's the biggest problem with obesity treatment," says Schwartz, director of the
Diabetes and Obesity Center of Excellence at the University of Washington.
"Obese people can lose weight, but they have trouble keeping it off." Schwartz and his team found evidence of inflammation, or neuron injury, in rats and mice
only three days after the rodents consumed foods high in fat.
Although the effect subsided temporarily, a long-term diet of unhealthy fare left permanent damage.
Schwartz believes the brain's attempt to heal the injured neurons results in gliosis, a process that
leads to scarring in the central nervous system.
The researchers also found a 25% reduction in the number of POMC cells in the rodents on a high-fat diet.
POMC cells play a critical role in the body's fat control system, helping regulate appetite and prevent excess weight gain. "Losing those cells would help explain why a new elevated level of body weight would occur," Schwartz says.
Smith says that the study is the result of more than a decade of hard work from neuro-scientists
around the world who are trying to understand the body’s weight loss system."
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