Why obese mice don’t move

Obesity, obesity, obesity – three names for a modern plague of mankind.

According to the National Consumption Study , over 35% of people in Germany are overweight and around 20% are even obese (BMI ≥ 30), which means that these people suffer from a “nutritional and metabolic disease with severe overweight, which is caused by an excess of normal body fat is marked with pathological effects “. At the same time, obesity goes hand in hand with sedentary lifestyle, which in turn closes the vicious circle of weight gain or loss.

Interesting research results on this widespread disease have now been published . In mice, but with a benefit for basic human research.

Researchers at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, led by
Alexxai Kravitz, have linked weight gain to reduced tendency to exercise.

When the researchers fed two groups of mice (healthy vs. mice with a mutation in a particular dopamine receptor) on a high-fat diet, the activity of the DR2-type dopamine receptor decreased, which caused the mice to move less.

Just like the DR2 mutant control group in mice. Of course, this is a result observed in the laboratory under controlled conditions and one should not consider this study as THE therapeutic approach to obesity, since one should not conclude that only the wrong food leads to obesity. Nevertheless, this study provides very interesting insights into the interplay between nutrition and brain chemistry, summarized in the following graphic from the original puncture application.
The nutrients from our food and its metabolism by our intestinal bacteria (our intestinal microbiome) play an eminent role in pretty much everything that concerns the correct functioning of our organism and thus our health. Although I lean a little far out of the window with this statement, a steadily increasing number of studies speak for it. Hopefully, these studies will soon lead to better therapy and thus relief for the health system.

Why obese mice don’t move

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