Adipose tissue, colloquially known as body fat, retains a ‘memory’ of obesity that persists after weight loss, which could increase the probability of gaining weight again and can help explain the yo-yo effect of diets, according to experiments with human and mouse cells.
That memory is described in a study published Natureled by the Federal Polytechnic School of Zurich and in which the researcher participated Daniel Castellano-Castillofrom the Malaga Biomedical Research Institute and Nanomedicine Platform (IBIMA).
The team used adipose tissue cells from 18 non-obese individuals and another 20 before and after weight loss following bariatric surgery – a type of intervention that helps obese people lose weight. They also studied mouse cells. The research indicated that obesity causes epigenetic changes in the nucleus of adipose cells, which remain even after a diet.
Epigenetics is the part of genetics that is not based on the sequence of genetic components, but on small chemical markers characteristics of said components.
Adipose cells “remember the state of overweight and can return to it more easily,” highlighted the leader of the study Ferdinand von Meyennfrom the ETH. Mice with these epigenetic markers regained weight more quickly when they again had access to a high-fat diet, that is, they suffered a yo-yo effect.
Although genetics is hereditary, epigenetics is more dynamic
The sequence of the basic components has evolved over time; We all inherit them from our parents, but epigenetic markers are more dynamicso environmental factors, eating habits or the state of the body – such as obesity – can modify them throughout life.
But they can remain stable for many years, sometimes decades, and during this time they play a key role in determining which genes are active in our cells and which are notexplains ETH in a statement. “Epigenetics tells a cell what type of cell it is and what it should do,” explains Laura Hinte, one of the signatories of the study.
The study indicates, according to the researchers, the existence of an obesogenic memorybased largely on stable epigenetic changes, in mouse adipocytes and probably in other cell types.
All of these changes appear to prepare cells for pathological responses, contributing to the yo-yo effect which is often seen with diets. If these changes in adipose cells and potentially other cells were acted upon in the future, weight control and long-term health could be improved.
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