About 40% of American adults are obese – and for many of them it can feel like a bit of a roller coaster as their weight fluctuates up and down.
The cycle of losing weight and gaining it back, commonly known as the yo-yo effectAccording to a new study, it could be due to a kind of ‘metabolic memory’, where the body remembers and strives to return to its previous state of obesity.
“Obesity is a chronic condition with significant metabolic consequences, strongly linked to several metabolic and… cardiovascular disease” study author Dr. Ferdinand von Meyenn, assistant professor of nutrition and metabolic epigenetics at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, told Fox News Digital.
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“A well-documented observation is that the body tends to defend increased body weight, making weight loss and weight loss a major challenge.”
The cycle of losing weight and gaining it back on repeat, commonly known as the yo-yo effect, may be due to a kind of ‘metabolic memory’, a new study has found. (iStock)
Obesity is a common chronic disease in the US, with one in five children and two in five adults meeting the criteria, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The new research, published in November in the journal Nature, points to epigenetics (genetic activity) that may play a role in weight regain after weight loss.
What is epigenetics?
“Epigenetics, which involves chemical markers that influence gene activity without changing the DNA sequence, is crucial for how cells function and respond to environmental cues,” Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford obesity medicine doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, told Fox News Digital.
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“These markers can be changed by lifestyle factors, such as diet, and can remain stable for years, effectively creating a cellular ‘memory’ of past states, such as obesity,added Stanford, who was not part of the study.
Cells are known to maintain their genetic identity as they divide. The researchers were curious about what happens to fat cells — which live on average for 10 years before the body replaces them, von Meyenn said.
The researchers investigated what happens to fat cells, which live on average ten years before the body replaces them. (iStock)
This differs from other cells in tissues, which divide much more quickly – for example, intestinal cells generally divide every other week, he added.
Fat cells still need to adapt to external stimuli and undergo epigenetic adjustments, Von Meyenn noted.
The researchers wanted to determine whether these changes could be reversed.
Combating ‘memory’ in fat cells
In mouse studies, the researchers found that even after significant weight loss, their cells have a “memory” of obesity encoded in the epigenome, which controls the activity of genes, von Meyenn noted.
“Our study indicates that one of the reasons why it is difficult to maintain body weight after initial weight loss is that the fat cells remember their previous obese state and probably strive to return to this state,” he told Fox News Digital.
“The body tends to defend the increased body weight, making weight loss and weight loss a major challenge.”
“This means you would have to ‘fight’ this obesogenic memory to maintain body weight.”
Based on this research, the inability to maintain weight loss after dieting is not necessarily due to a lack of effort or willpower, but could also be due to an underlying cause. biological phenomenonadded Von Meyenn.
Potential limitations
The study only looked at fat tissue and the genetic mechanisms were only studied in mice. Still, the researchers said they believe similar mechanisms apply to humans as well.
However, other experts cautioned that the study only shows a link and does not prove that epigenetic changes cause the yo-yo effect.
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“The authors pointed out that they cannot say with certainty that the epigenetic modifications directly cause people to regain lost weight, nor can they determine what specific changes occur.” epigenetic markers can cause this effect,” Petronella Ravenshear, board-certified nutritionist and author of “The Human Being Diet,” told Fox News Digital.
Florida-based Ravenshear, who was not part of the study, noted that the results should not lead people to claim, “It’s not my fault, it’s my genes!”
Plans for future research
“We will now have to expand, see how the memory can be erased and whether other cells or tissues are also affected, (such as) the brain or the liver,” von Meyenn said.
It’s possible that if people maintain a healthy weight for a year or more after dieting, that could be enough time to erase the memory in the fat cells, according to Ravenshear.
The term ‘diet’ in its original connotation meant ‘way of life’ – but is now synonymous with short-term dietary changes that are unsustainable, an expert has said. (iStock)
“This discovery underlines the importance of preventing obesity, especially those who are obese children and adolescentsto avoid building up this epigenetic memory that makes long-term weight management difficult,” Stanford noted.
“Further understanding these mechanisms could lead to more effective treatments and prevention strategies, highlighting the need for a proactive approach to weight management from an early age,” she added.
‘Way of life’
The term “diet” in its original connotation meant “way of life” — but is now synonymous with short-term dietary changes that are unsustainable, Ravenshear noted.
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Many experts agree that people often regain the weight they lost when they return to the eating habits that led to weight gain in the first place.
Ravenshear quoted Professor David Benton of Swansea University in Britain, author of “Tackling the Obesity Crisis,” who recently shared in a Guardian interview: “The mantra is that diets fail.”
One expert recommends focusing on breaking the addiction to sugar and refined carbs and embracing a new way of eating. (iStock)
“They fail because in order to avoid regaining the weight you lost, you have to do it permanently change your diet.”
After ending a diet, many people return to the previous lifestyle that caused the problem in the first place, he noted.
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“Frequent snacking and eating high-calorie, nutrient-poor foods disrupts our blood sugar levels, increases insulin levels and contributes to inflammation – and the inflammation itself makes it harder to lose weight,” Ravenshear told Fox News Digital.
“Eating high-calorie, nutrient-poor foods disrupts our blood sugar levels, increases insulin levels and contributes to inflammation – and the inflammation itself makes it harder to lose weight,” one expert warned. (iStock)
She recommends focusing on breaking the addiction to sugar and refined carbohydrates and embracing a new way of eating.
The expert proposes to choose nutrient-dense whole foodseating three meals a day and fasting for five hours between meals with nothing but water.
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The weight loss occurs as a side effect of rebalancing hormones and reducing inflammation, she noted.
Ravenshear added, “If we consume the calories but not the nutrients our bodies and brains need, we are always hungry because our brains are pushing us to keep looking for food.”
