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Scientists have found that obesity is an irreversible process
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Obese people may never lose their extra pounds, even if they stick to a strict diet and lead an active lifestyle. Scientists explain this by the fact that their bodies are reprogrammed to accumulate weight.
Scientists from the University of Michigan have discovered that for some time, while a person suffers from obesity, a "switch" is flipped in his body, which does not allow the person to restore his normal weight. Children are especially at risk, whose excess weight is perceived by their parents as baby fat. If you turn a blind eye to this problem, then in the future the child will acquire not only weight problems, but also all the ensuing consequences: cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, etc.
According to statistics, almost a third of children aged 2 to 15 in the UK are diagnosed as obese or overweight. Obesity is considered a chronic disease characterized by excessive growth of adipose tissue. Every year this problem is becoming more widespread.
Experts conducted experiments on mice to find out whether obesity is really an irreversible process.
During the experiment, experts observed rodents suffering from obesity. The greater the animal's body mass, the more irreversible this process was.
The mice were put on a very strict diet and a rigorous exercise program. But somehow, the obese animals never managed to achieve the same results as the mice that were never overfed.
It turned out that the rodents that were not obese and had normal weight from an early age remained the same even after the switch was turned on. And those who were overfed from childhood were unable to restore their weight to an acceptable level.
“Our findings show that it is important to intervene in childhood weight gain to reverse obesity,” said lead author Malcolm Lowe. “This is why it is so difficult for overweight adults to lose weight. And even the most strict diets and long-term exercise regimens will not help with what should be monitored from a young age.”
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