Gastric Emptying Rate May Be Key To Preventing Obesity

This is it.

Really.

This is the key.

Not. Real key to follow.

Researchers have discovered how a hormone in the gut slows the rate at which the stomach empties and thus suppresses hunger and food intake. Results of the animal study were presented at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston.

"The gut hormone glucagon-like peptide 2, or GLP-2, functions as a neurotransmitter and fine-tunes gastric emptying through - as suspected - its receptor action in the brain," said the lead investigator, Xinfu Guan, PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics and medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

The researchers found that this action occurs in the GLP-2 receptor specifically in a key group of nerve cells in the brain, called pro-opiomelanocortin, or POMC, neurons. These neurons are in the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that produces appetite-controlling neuropeptides.

In their study using molecular methods, mice lacking this GLP-2 receptor in the POMC neurons showed late-onset obesity and higher food intake compared with normal wild-type mice. The mutant, or GLP-2 receptor "knockout," mice also had accelerated gastric emptying after a liquid meal, as found on a noninvasive breath test. The faster the gastric emptying, the higher the food intake, scientists know.

The real key is the gastric filling rate - how many Calories you shove down your piehole relative to the number of Calories you burn.

Period.