Is Persistent Hunger After Weight Loss Behind Weight Regain?
A study on mice suggests that biological factors may drive weight regain after weight loss through a condition known as hyperphagia. The research indicates that formerly obese mice exhibit persistent hunger even after achieving weight loss, which may complicate efforts to maintain that weight loss. This finding could have implications for humans, highlighting the challenge of resisting biological urges to return to a higher body weight set point.
- ▪The study involved a male mouse model of reversed dietary obesity, where mice were initially fed a high-fat diet before being calorie-restricted.
- ▪Mice that were allowed to eat freely after weight loss displayed a significant increase in hunger compared to control mice.
- ▪Only mice whose food intake was continuously matched to that of normal-weight mice were able to maintain their weight loss.
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TOPLINE:People who regain lost weight may be biologically driven to do so via hyperphagia, or an insatiable hunger, a study in mice suggested.METHODOLOGY:Researchers developed a male mouse model of reversed dietary obesity (ReDO) by feeding mice a high-fat diet for 16 weeks, then putting them on a calorie-restricted diet until their body weight matched that of control mice.ReDO mice were then divided into four categories: one group had unrestricted access to food after calorie restriction, and one was perpetually matched to the food consumption patterns of a normal-weight control group.The other two groups’ diets matched those of normal-weight mice for 8 or 28 days, after which they ate ad libitum.TAKEAWAY:The formerly obese mice allowed to eat ad libitum displayed persistent hyperphagia…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Medscape.
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