Scientists have discovered a molecule that protects against obesity
Last reviewed: 26.11.2021
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A molecule protecting against obesity was found by specialists from the Imperial College of London. Now doctors have another target for fighting obesity and metabolic disorders.
The GPR120 protein is located on the surface of cells of the intestine, liver, and fat cells. It allows cells to react to unsaturated fatty acids (for example, omega-3) coming from food. Their health benefits are repeatedly proven. When unsaturated fatty acids bind to the GPR120 protein in intestinal cells, this stimulates the release of hormones that reduce appetite and enhances the secretion of insulin. And in fat cells GPR120 provides the deposition of fat in them, but not in the liver and not in the arteries.
It has been shown that mice deficient in GPR120 protein are more prone to obesity than normal mice when they are fed fatty foods. In this case, they suffer from a liver. On the other hand, people who have a certain mutation in the GPR120 gene are also more prone to obesity.
Researchers from the United Kingdom, France and Japan found in joint experiments that mice that lacked the GPR120 protein on a diet with a high fat content not only gained weight, but also acquired obesity liver, they had increased blood glucose levels, and the number of fat cells, on the contrary, was falling. This indicated the problems with fat storage - they started to store it "not there" - not in adipose tissue, but in the liver, in the muscles, in the walls of the arteries. As a result, the mice were still fat, and they also had health problems, signs of type 2 diabetes appeared, and the heart worsened.
"Excess weight is not the worst thing, if the fat is stored in adipose tissue, and not in the internal organs," - emphasizes Professor Philippe Froguel (Philippe Froguel), head of the study. - The latter is much more dangerous for health. We showed that deficiency of protein GPR120 together with fatty food leads to the most harmful type of obesity. "
After studying the gene GPR120 in almost seven thousand obese people, and with as many with normal weight, scientists compared its structure to both. They found that one mutation, which deprives the protein of activity, increases the risk of obesity by 60%.
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