What if we could now eat whatever we want while losing weight?

A recent study on obese mice indicates that it may soon be possible to lose weight without changing one’s diet using an enzyme inhibitor. If these results are confirmed in humans, this could revolutionize treatments against obesity.

Obesity and weight loss: what is the role of the brain?

The way our bodies process food and generate energy centers on a part of the brain known as “lateral hypothalamic area” (LHA), which we know sends signals to our body’s fat stores (more scientifically known as “fat tissue”).

Exactly how this exchange takes place is not yet clear. A team of researchers therefore wanted to find out more by carrying out experiments on mice.

The researchers first found that diet-obese mice had a slowdown in GABRA5 neurons in the LHA. They then looked at what would happen if they used chemogenetic inhibition to further shut down GABRA5 neuron activity using chemicals. They then observed additional weight gain in the animals.

So they finally successfully looked for a way to induce the opposite effect by activating GABRA5 neurons to act as a switch in the regulation of body fat.

Obesity and weight loss: towards the end of diets?

“Our study highlights promising molecular targets to fight obesity without compromising appetite” or resort to diets that often result in “yoyo effect”summarize the scientists.

Following these promising results, a biotechnology company is currently continuing its work to develop a drug that inhibits GABRA5 neurons.

47.3% of French people are overweight or obese

In 2020, nearly one in two French people (47.3%) were overweight or obese, according to figures from a new Odoxa survey for The League Against Obesity. And obesity is growing the most – it has doubled since 1997. Today, 17% of French people are obese (including 6% of children aged 8 to 17).

Massive obesity has practically doubled in a decade, going from 1.1% in 2009 to 2% in 2020, and now concerns more than a million French people.