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Todays’ menu:

1) Unlocking the mysteries of hunger: how the gut regulates appetite

2) Do people with obesity burn less energy during day?

3) The anti-depressive power of omega-3 and omega-6 balance

😋 Unlocking the mysteries of hunger: how the gut regulates appetite

🗣️ Elegant communication

The communication between the gut and the brain, mediated by hormones, is important for appetite regulation.

This year has seen an explosion of weight loss drugs that aim to address insulin imbalances (the hormone responsible for processing sugars in the body).

However, these drugs come with side effects and do not target the root cause of over eating.

A fast-developing field seeks to directly target the underlying driver of food intake (aka appetite).

A recent study in mice showed that hunger hormones from the gut can blunt the appetite suppressing mechanisms within the brain.

When given food, only the hungry mice would begin eating. Conversely, blocking the ‘doors’ through which hunger hormones enter the brain led the animals to stop eating even if hungry.

🥊 Punchline

We all know that hunger can deeply influence our choices. Think about how much more food you buy when going shopping on an empty stomach.

Being able to make decisions based on how hungry we are helped us stay alive in our foraging and hunting years, but is a drive to over consume in today’s’ world of abundant food choices.

This research helps understand how the communication between gut and brain orchestrate appetite regulation and hold the potential to aid the prevention and treatment of eating disorders (on top of appetite suppressing drugs!).

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☀️ Do people with obesity burn less energy during day?

🐻‍❄️ The polar opposite

Sleep is a time for rest, dream, and recharge for the day ahead.

It is generally considered a period of inactivity, with minimal energy expenditure. However, this notion is not universally true!

A recent study discovered that healthy people use more energy during the day, but people with obesity spend more energy during the night, when most people sleep.

After carefully observing 30 people living in the lab for 6 days, researchers thought that this phenomenon stems from the higher circulating levels of insulin in the blood experienced by people with obesity during the day. Insulin is the hormone responsible for storing and using sugar when in excess.

This greater insulin level during the day, whether due to increased production or resistance, could explain why people with obesity tend to burn less energy when awake.

🥊 Punchline

This is a ‘chicken and egg’ situation. We don’t know the underlying cause: if burning less energy during the day could contribute to being obese, or it could be the result of obesity.

However, addressing insulin resistance is crucial for individuals with obesity to effectively store less energy and burn more.

This can be achieved by reducing the intake of simple sugars, limiting meal frequency, and addressing insulin resistance through weight management.

By combining these approaches, individuals with obesity can better regulate blood sugar levels, insulin, and maintain a metabolically active lifestyle.

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🔥 The anti-depressive power of omega-3 and omega-6 balance

⚖️ The right balance

The right balance between omega 3 and omega 6 fats is essential for health, as omega 3 is anti-inflammatory and omega 6 is pro inflammatory.

Vegetable oils are very rich in omega 6 and their use in food production and cooking has pushed the omega-6/3 ratio to a staggering 20:1 in favour of omega-6 (versus 4:1 in the mid 1950s).

The pro inflammatory action of omega 6 is necessary to kick start the body defence mechanism and promote healing. However, excessive omega 6 disrupts this balance, tipping the scale towards inflammation.

If undressed, this imbalanced can inhibits the brain -protective effects of omega 3 over time.

So a study investigated how this imbalance towards excessive omega 6 influences people with depression.

They found that the imbalance between the two fats negatively impact attention and cognitive performance.

And, reducing omega 6 intake while and supplementing with omega 3 was associated with greater attention among people with depression.

🥊 Punchline

Again, this is a ‘chicken and egg’ situation. We don’t know if depression leads to an increase in omega 6 intake or vice versa.

Nevertheless, rebalancing fatty acids by reducing omega 6 and increasing omega 3 had positive outcomes.

It is recommended to strive for a balance between the two (2:1 for omega 6 to omega 3 ratio). This can be achieved by minimizing consumption of vegetable oils (sunflower, corn, soybean oils) and their products and enhancing intake of omega-3 rich sources.

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And finally!

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To your health!

Paolo

Hungry for more reading?

Why not read the most read articles?

Issue no. 14: Why do we keep eating even when we’re full?

Issue no. 9: A link between gut health and Alzheimer's confirmed!

Issue no. 7: How to snack without sabotaging your diet

Issue no. 6: Eat the rainbow: The importance of plant diversity for all diets