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Scientists have discovered a molecule that protects against obesity
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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A molecule that protects against obesity has been found by specialists from Imperial College London. Now doctors have another target for the fight against excess weight and metabolic disorders.
The GPR120 protein is found on the surface of intestinal cells, liver cells, and fat cells. It allows cells to respond to unsaturated fatty acids (such as omega-3) that come with food. Their health benefits have been proven many times. When unsaturated fatty acids bind to the GPR120 protein in intestinal cells, it stimulates the release of hormones that reduce appetite and increases insulin secretion. And in fat cells, GPR120 ensures that fat is deposited in them, but not in the liver or arteries.
Mice deficient in the GPR120 protein have been shown to be more prone to obesity than normal mice when fed a high-fat diet. Their livers also suffer. On the other hand, humans with a certain mutation in the GPR120 gene are also more prone to obesity.
Researchers from the UK, France and Japan found in joint experiments that mice lacking the GPR120 protein on a high-fat diet not only gained weight, but also developed fatty liver, their blood glucose levels increased, and the number of fat cells, on the contrary, decreased. This indicated problems with fat storage - they began to store it "in the wrong place" - not in adipose tissue, but in the liver, in muscles, in the walls of arteries. As a result, the mice still got fat, and in addition, they began to have health problems, signs of type 2 diabetes appeared, and their hearts deteriorated.
"Being overweight is not the worst thing if the fat is stored in adipose tissue rather than in the internal organs," emphasizes Professor Philippe Froguel, head of the study. "The latter is much more dangerous to health. We have shown that a deficiency of the GPR120 protein together with fatty foods leads to the most harmful type of obesity."
After studying the GPR120 gene in nearly 7,000 obese and normal-weight people, the scientists compared its structure in both groups. They found that one mutation, which renders the protein inactive, increases the risk of obesity by 60%.
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