Autophagy research offers clues to new weight loss treatment

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDAug 3 2011

According to a new study when the body is starved brain cells along with other parts of the body begin to eat themselves. The body responds by producing fatty acids, which turn up the hunger signal in the brain and increase the impulse to eat.

According to researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York the findings could lead to new scientifically proven weight loss treatments. Tests on mice found that stopping the brain cells from eating themselves – a process known as autophagy – prevented levels of hunger from rising in response to starvation. The chemical change in their brains caused the mice to become lighter and slimmer after a period of fasting, the researchers reported in the journal Cell Metabolism.

Dr Rajat Singh, who led the study, said drugs that interfere with this process could help treat obesity, by making people ‘less hungry and burn more fat’. He explained, “A pathway that is really important for every cell to turn over components in a kind of housekeeping process is also required to regulate appetite. Treatments aimed at the pathway might make you less hungry and burn more fat, a good way to maintain energy balance in a world where calories are cheap and plentiful.”