The improper functioning of the genes that control the body temperature and its reaction to cold can be one of the main causes of obesity, according to a new study.
Obesity is the modern days epidemic
According to WHO, since the 1980s, the obesity has become the world’s largest form of “epidemic”.
According to the statistics in this field, every third inhabitant of the planet (about 1.9 billion people) is overweighted and about 15% suffer from severe forms of obesity, such as morbid obesity.
Almost half of the most common lethal diseases are associated with obesity, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer.
In recent years, scientists are increasingly talking about the relationship between obesity and chronic inflammatory processes.
Extra pounds lead to the development of inflammation, and this, in turn, leads to an even greater weight gain. Moreover, recently biologists have found that substances that suppress inflammation, such as capsaicin (the active ingredients in pepper and in many weight loss supplements), have proven to be very effective against obesity.
Obesity is linked to the body temperature
Alfonso Reimundez of the University of Santiago de Compostela, in Spain, and his colleagues found a surprising link between obesity and body temperature.
To achieve this result, they examined the behavior of mice in which the TRPM8 gene (responsible for the body’s reaction to cold) was damaged.
The TRPM8 gene’s damage strangely affected the appetite of mice and how their bodies used the fat deposits when the temperature was lowered. Thus, the mice developed unusual insomnia, which they constantly tried to seize, which led to rapid weight gain and the development of obesity.
Interestingly, the obesity did not develop immediately but only after the mice reached approximately 6-month-old, which in humans corresponds to late adolescence.
According to researchers, the obesity is linked to body temperature in terms of how is the organism using the fat stores during cold temperature. Even more, type 2 diabetes can similarly develop in the people who present mutations in the TRPM8 gene.
