A scientists have found why many people struggle to keep their weight in check as they get older, even if they don’t eat more or exercise less than before. The study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, found that lipid turnover in the fat tissue – the rate at which lipid or fat in the fat cells is removed – decreases during ageing, making it easy to gain weight.
The researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden studied the fat cells in 54 men and women over an average period of 13 years. All subjects showed decreases in lipid turnover in the fat tissue. Those who didn’t compensate for that by eating fewer calories, gained weight by an average of 20 per cent, according to the study done in collaboration with researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden and University of Lyon in France.
The researchers also examined lipid turnover in 41 women who underwent bariatric surgery, and how the lipid turnover rate affected their ability to keep the weight off four to seven years after surgery.. “The results indicate for the first time that processes in our fat tissue regulate changes in body weight during ageing in a way that is independent of other factors,” said Peter Arner, a professor at the Karolinska Institutet. “This could open up new ways to treat obesity,” Arner said.
Source by | PTI | Economic Times
Updated: September 20, 2019
