Scientists have been trying to find a way to fight obesity for a long time. But what if we just didn’t feel hungry? No hunger, less food, less weight – sounds simple. Read on to find out what a new American study discovered.
How to switch off hunger
American scientists based in Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee conducted a research on causes of obesity. They discovered that there is a way to beat the problem at the cellular level. For the first time researchers described a specific type of a cellular receptor. When activated, the receptor shuts off the feeling of hunger.
The team led by Jens Meiler, a professor at Vanderbilt University, involved researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai and Leipzig University in Germany. The international team managed to determine the 1st crystal structure for a neuropeptide Y receptor, deciphering thousands of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and other atoms it made of. Meiler called it a huge step forward.
“The big contribution of this paper is to list the atoms with all the specific coordinates of where they sitting in space and where they are bound to each other. We’ve actually found where there are little pockets in the structure where we can build a small molecule to bind”, she explained.
The professor also compared earlier investigations with trying to design a key while not knowing the shape of the actual keyhole. Previously many companies could not succeed because they did not exactly know what the receptor looked like. No wonder they were not able to “fit a key”.
When can we use the hunger switch?
It would be great to get the remedy for obesity as soon as possible, but it’s still too early in the research, scientists say.
First of all the study’s results need to be checked. Scientists strive to confirm that this particular receptor actually is responsible for controlling hunger. Previous studies showed that when the receptor is blocked from functioning in mice, they became obese.
When you eat, this peptide is produced. Then the peptide activates the receptor, therefore you don’t feel hungry anymore and stop consuming food. “The idea here is that we could upregulate this receptor with a small molecule and create this feeling of not being hungry so that you eat less,” Meiler explained.
So, while academics are busy with trying to design an acting molecular hunger switch, we should simply follow the golden rule: Eat lots of fresh vegetables and fruit, avoid sugar, exercise and watch your weight. It works!
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I don’t now what country, but in one country there is the special fruit. When a person ate that fruit, he/she for a while will forget about hunger. Also, when I was a teenager I wanted to lose weight. So, firstly, I ate fruits, vegetables, avoid sugar and solt and etc. In a fact, I lose weight and didn’t want to eat more. However, in one day, I considered to avoid food at all. I didn’t eat anything, just drank water and sometimes drank orange juice and green tea. For a long time, I think maybe one month I drank… Read more »
Ok, that’s a problem, of course. I would like my feeling of hunger be switched off some day. So many problems would be solved at once! But…it can cause another problem instead. How can a person understand it’s time to have a snack?
People try to make up new methods for easy weight loss. Mass media instill us to be thin. Isn’t it easier just to feel comfortable staying yourself? Perfect body is not the main achievement. No one will hire you or will respect for your low weight
I think that a lot of people will try to use this investigation in a wrong way. It’s good for medical purposes but what about anorexic girls who’ll totally stop consuming any food? This invention should not be distributed amongst grass roots.
As for me, hunger is not the biggest problem, but the necessary for taste is. It is a generally-known fact, that the inhibition of hunger even during a diet is not a good idea. Another question is if a body needs some energy or a nervous system needs some dofamine from food.
Perhaps it is a breakthrough for people suffering from bulimia.
Also it reminds me the “Limitless” movie. What if this sort of chemistry makes an addiction? So, I wouldn’t try.
They say: eat a lot of fruits, but what should I do if I live in the north and fruits I have are only apples and cranberries. Everything else, as they say, is crammed with pesticides and other things. Sometimes I have a desire to change the place of living and go to the south.
It’s good, that scientists think about obesity: it’s very hard to give up on sweets and chips. Now I know who is responsible for it!