New Research Suggests That Obesity Is a Neurodevelopmental Disorder HEAD TOPICS
New Research Suggests That Obesity Is a Neurodevelopmental Disorder
10/21/2022 4:14:00 PM New Research Suggests That Obesity Is a Neurodevelopmental Disorder
Source SciTechDaily
New Research Suggests That Obesity Is a Neurodevelopmental Disorder Scientists have recently proposed that obesity is a neurodevelopmental disorder. Over the last several decades, obesity has rapidly grown to affect more than 2 billion people, making it one of the biggest contributors to poor health globally. Many individuals still have trouble losing weight despit October 21, 2022The study found that early-life molecular mechanisms of brain development are likely a significant factor in determining the risk of obesity.Scientists have recently proposed that obesity is a neurodevelopmental disorder.Over the last several decades, obesity has rapidly grown to affect more than 2 billion people, making it one of the biggest contributors to poor health globally. Many individuals still have trouble losing weight despite decades of study on diet and exercise regimens. Researchers from Read more:
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MedTwitter Friends could be key to finding fitness motivationSpending time with active people could be key to kick-starting a workout regime, research suggests. A 5-Day COVID Isolation Probably Isn’t Long Enough, New Research SuggestsYou may be contagious longer than you think, despite the CDC’s guidance. Baylor College of Medicine October 21, 2022 The study found that early-life molecular mechanisms of brain development are likely a significant factor in determining the risk of obesity.View saved stories .published Tuesday in the journal Cell .on Research Square as a preprint that has not yet been peer-reviewed. Scientists have recently proposed that obesity is a neurodevelopmental disorder. Over the last several decades, obesity has rapidly grown to affect more than 2 billion people, making it one of the biggest contributors to poor health globally. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Many individuals still have trouble losing weight despite decades of study on diet and exercise regimens. Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and affiliated institutions now believe they understand why, and they argue that the emphasis should be shifted from treating obesity to preventing it. About 99% of people living in the United States and Europe spend their nights beneath the gleam of artificial lights, according to a 2016 report published by The New World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness. The research team reports in the journal Science Advances that early-life molecular processes of brain development are likely a major determinant of obesity risk. Awareness of a person's glucose responses to different foods and meal patterns might, for example, help people with metabolic disorders adjust their nutritional behavior to better optimize their glucose profiles. Previous large human studies have shown that the genes most strongly associated with obesity are expressed in the developing brain. Unfortunately, it’s obscured the Milky Way for an estimated 80% of Americans. This most recent study in mice focused on epigenetic development. Epigenetics is a molecular bookmarking system that regulates whether genes are utilized or not in certain cell types. The REM-cycle disruptions spurred are linked to heart disease, obesity, and Alzheimer’s. “Decades of research in humans and animal models have shown that environmental influences during critical periods of development have a major long-term impact on health and disease,” said corresponding author Dr. Robert Waterland, professor of pediatrics-nutrition and a member of the USDA Children’s Nutrition Research Center at Baylor. My bedroom experience more closely resembles that of Chevy Chase’s resentful, floodlit neighbors in Christmas Vacation than it does the blackout cave our ancestors spent hundreds of millennia evolving to sleep in. Participants consumed a fast test meal for breakfast and a slow test meal at lunch, and the next day, a slow test-meal breakfast followed by a fast test-meal lunch. “Body weight regulation is very sensitive to such ‘developmental programming,’ but exactly how this works remains unknown.” “In this study, we focused on a brain region called the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, which is a master regulator of food intake, physical activity and metabolism,” said first author Dr. If the insidious dangers of light pollution are alarming, the solution, on an individual, short-term level, is surprisingly simple: We need blackout curtains. Harry MacKay, who was a postdoctoral associate in the Waterland lab while working on the project. “We discovered that the arcuate nucleus undergoes extensive epigenetic maturation during early postnatal life. Phyllis Zee, a neurologist at Northwestern University, founder of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine, and co-author of both studies mentioned above. This period is also exquisitely sensitive to developmental programming of body weight regulation, suggesting that these effects could be a consequence of dysregulated epigenetic maturation. The highest postprandial glucose levels occurred after a fast test meal. ” The researchers performed genome-wide analyses of gene expression and DNA methylation, a key epigenetic tag, before and after the postnatal critical window for the developmental programming of body weight closed. This is because the retina is in direct communication with the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which is the part of the brain that schedules the release of hormones assisting in wakefulness (cortisol) and sleep (dopamine). “One of our study’s biggest strengths is that we studied the two major classes of brain cells, neurons, and glia,” MacKays said. “It turns out that epigenetic maturation is very different between these two cell types. It poses a consequential threat to our health as research shows that sustained deep sleep is integral to long-term cardiovascular, metabolic, and cognitive health.” “Our study is the first to compare this epigenetic development in males and females,” Waterland said. “We were surprised to find extensive sex differences. Meanwhile a sister paper revealed that “something like 30% of people sleep with some type of light on,” which, especially light from a television, is shown to increase the risk of obesity. Consuming a slow test meal for lunch induced a higher glucose increase than when it was consumed for breakfast. In fact, in terms of these postnatal epigenetic changes, males and females are more different than they are similar. And, many of the changes occurred earlier in females than in males, indicating that females are precocious in this regard. For example, two toxic substrates flushed during slow-wave sleep include beta Amyloid and tau, protein pieces that occur in greater quantities in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.” The human connection The biggest surprise came when the investigators compared their epigenetic data in mice to human data from large genome-wide association studies that screen for genetic variants associated with obesity. The genomic regions targeted for epigenetic maturation in the mouse arcuate nucleus overlapped strongly with human genomic regions associated with body mass index, an index of obesity. A total of 50% of our genes are tasked with keeping the body’s many systems (skin, liver, immune, reproductive, cardiovascular, kidney, and lungs) on track. “These associations suggest that obesity risk in humans is determined in part by epigenetic development in the arcuate nucleus,” MacKay said. Slow test meals produced a feeling of satiety for a longer time and decreased the rate of energy intake at the subsequent meal. “Our results provide new evidence that developmental epigenetics is likely involved in both early environmental and genetic influences on obesity risk. For example, when we eat late at night, our livers trigger our metabolism; simultaneously, our brains signal rest, rendering both processes less effective. Accordingly, prevention efforts targeting these developmental processes could be the key to stopping the worldwide obesity epidemic.” Reference: “Sex-specific epigenetic development in the mouse hypothalamic arcuate nucleus pinpoints human genomic regions associated with body mass index” by Harry MacKay, Chathura J. When we’re sleeping, it triggers our skin to begin the reparative work of renewing collagen. Gunasekara, Kit-Yi Yam, Dollada Srisai, Hari Krishna Yalamanchili, Yumei Li, Rui Chen, Cristian Coarfa and Robert A. Waterland, 28 September 2022, Science Advances . At home, Zee has placed a small patch over the diminutive blue lights that mark where her bedroom light switches are. One of the authors has reported receiving funding and consulting fees from several companies.