American researchers have found that obesity leaves a molecular memory in fat cells that continues to send hunger signals to the brain even after significant weight loss, reports infohub.kz.
Many people experience that the pounds they struggle to lose quickly return. Scientists conducted a series of experiments and were able to understand why the body so actively strives to regain its former shape.
It turned out that during weight gain, an inflammatory process occurs in the body that alters the functioning of fat cells. They produce a special hormone called asprosin, which is responsible for increasing appetite. Even when a person completely sheds excess weight, the fat cells retain this disruption at the level of genetic memory and continue to secrete the hormone in elevated amounts. As a result, the brain constantly receives erroneous signals that the body is starving and forces the person to overeat.
Moreover, experts found that this molecular memory can be passed from mother to child during pregnancy, predisposing the child to obesity in advance. The discovery explains why modern popular weight-loss drugs often work only while they are being taken: they reduce appetite but do not erase the cells' memory. Now biologists hope to create new drugs that can finally reset these settings and help maintain slimness permanently.