ScienceDaily: Ubiquitous nutrients suppress appetite and promote movement

"Proteins can suppress appetite, so a protein-​rich diet can help people lose weight. That's just one of the reasons why this kind of diet has become increasingly popular in recent years. Working with mice, researchers at ETH Zurich have now demonstrated a new mechanism by which the building blocks of proteins -- the amino acids -- curb appetite. Specifically, it involves what are known as non-​essential amino acids.

Of the 21 amino acids our bodies require, there are 9 they are unable to produce on their own. They are called essential amino acids. Because we must obtain these through our diet, they have far been the focus of nutrition research. The other 12 amino acids are considered non-​essential. The body can produce them itself by altering other molecules.

With additional experiments, the researchers were able to decode the underlying mechanism, in which specialized nerve cells in the brain -- orexin neurons -- play the main role. Proteins that the mice take in through food are broken down in the gut into their amino acids, which then enter the bloodstream. From there, the blood transports them to the brain. The orexin neurons in the hypothalamus have receptors that specifically recognise the non-​essential amino acids. In response, they initiate a neural circuit that produces the described behavioral changes.

This mechanism is likely rooted in evolutionary history. "Today, we have sufficient access to all nutrients, and we have plenty of time for eating. In prehistoric times, when this mechanism developed, that was likely not the case," says Paulius Viskaitis, a postdoc in Burdakov's group and lead author of the study. "Back then, it was advantageous for individuals to spend only a short amount of time at a food source that consisted primarily of non-​essential amino acids." If eating non-​essential amino acids promotes the urge to move, the animal will go in search of other sources of food -- which potentially contain more essential nutrients and are more important for the individual.”

My Takeaways From This Article

1. There are so many biological ‘hacks’ that our body has due to its well-adapted mechanisms that developed over years of history and evolution. There are still so many things we do not understand about our own body and how complex and intricate it really is.

2. The researcher in this article found an interesting response that occurs when rats consume high protein diets, particularly the response that non-essential amino acids had on behavior and response.

3. It was shown that rats that were fed a high protein diet with these types of amino acids were more likely to be active and eat less overall than other control diets. This shows that eating non-essential amino acids can suppress appetite and also foster a sense of increased activity after consumption

4. The researcher concluded it to be an activation of a certain nerve pathway which was programmed to have evolutionary advantages from our ancestors and past species.

Full article is here!

What are some cool things about the body that amaze you?

#Body #Health #HealthyLiving