COLUMBUS, Ohio - Researchers at The Ohio State University Medical Center found that friendship may trigger a change in the brain to help weight loss, 10TV News reported on Tuesday.
Researchers Matthew During and Lei Cao learned from mice how to flip a biological switch to burn body fat, 10TV's Andrea Cambern reported.
"Most people have just heard the word 'fat' and it's always a bad thing," During said.
According to During, there are two kinds of fat; white fat that stores energy and brown fat, which burns it.
He said that lean people have more brown fat and finding a way to switch from white to brown is a holy grail of obesity research.
"Then you can eat more or eat the same and you'd start to lose weight," During said.
Researchers divided mice into two groups. One group went into typical cages. The other went into a big one, full of toys, mazes, tunnels, wheels, bedding, and other mice. The mice in the playground ended up with half the white fat of the control group. Though they were on a high-fat diet, they weighed 29 percent less.
During said their environment switched the brain to convert white fat to brown. Slimmer mice needed more than just exercise, they needed friends too.
"It's a combination of all those things. It's social interactions, physical activity, engagement in the world," During said.
He believed that the principle also applies to humans.
"The couch potato is not just you sitting on the couch eating a lot and watching TV," During said. "You're not engaging socially, so just to get out there, to involve yourself. Not just the physical activity, but the actual social involvement we believe is very important to activate this pathway."
During said that changing behavior was only half the answer. He hoped finding the brain switch may lead to new drugs so people can shed pounds and stay at a healthy weight.
The work was being published on Tuesday in the journal "Cell Metabolism."
http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2011/09/06/columbus-obesity-study-friendship.html
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Researchers Matthew During and Lei Cao learned from mice how to flip a biological switch to burn body fat, 10TV's Andrea Cambern reported.
"Most people have just heard the word 'fat' and it's always a bad thing," During said.
According to During, there are two kinds of fat; white fat that stores energy and brown fat, which burns it.
He said that lean people have more brown fat and finding a way to switch from white to brown is a holy grail of obesity research.
"Then you can eat more or eat the same and you'd start to lose weight," During said.
Researchers divided mice into two groups. One group went into typical cages. The other went into a big one, full of toys, mazes, tunnels, wheels, bedding, and other mice. The mice in the playground ended up with half the white fat of the control group. Though they were on a high-fat diet, they weighed 29 percent less.
During said their environment switched the brain to convert white fat to brown. Slimmer mice needed more than just exercise, they needed friends too.
"It's a combination of all those things. It's social interactions, physical activity, engagement in the world," During said.
He believed that the principle also applies to humans.
"The couch potato is not just you sitting on the couch eating a lot and watching TV," During said. "You're not engaging socially, so just to get out there, to involve yourself. Not just the physical activity, but the actual social involvement we believe is very important to activate this pathway."
During said that changing behavior was only half the answer. He hoped finding the brain switch may lead to new drugs so people can shed pounds and stay at a healthy weight.
The work was being published on Tuesday in the journal "Cell Metabolism."
http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2011/09/06/columbus-obesity-study-friendship.html
Join Us @
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