Stop exercising, eat as much as you want ... and still lose weight? It sounds impossible, but UC Irvine and Italian researchers have found that by blocking a natural, marijuana-like chemical regulating energy metabolism, this can happen, at least in the lab.Bad news for fat mice who like to feel high.
To create this hypermetabolic state, UCI pharmacology professor Daniele Piomelli and colleagues engineered neurons in the forebrains of mice to limit production of an endocannabinoid compound called 2-AG. All mammalian brains contain 2-AG, which the researchers believe helps control the activity of forebrain neural circuits involved in energy dissipation.
As a result, these modified mice ate more and moved less than typical mice but did not gain any weight, even when they were fed a high-fat diet. Additionally, they did not develop any signs of metabolic syndrome, a combination of health problems such as obesity and high blood pressure that increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
"We discovered that these mice were resistant to obesity because they burned fat calories much more efficiently than normal mice do," said Piomelli, the Louise Turner Arnold Chair in the Neurosciences. "We had known that endocannabinoids play a critical role in cell energy regulation, but this is the first time we found a target where this occurs."
If you are just going to say "No," you are better off saying it to Calories.
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