Obesity

Scientists in the US investigating the biological mechanisms behind fat burning have identified a protein that plays a key role in regulating metabolism, and demonstrated how blocking its activity can boost the process in mice.

Scientists have stumbled across a mechanism by which the immune system triggers the secretion of fat cells through the skin. The mechanism may translate from mice into humans, but turning it into a safe obesity therapy could be challenging.

A trial testing fecal transplants in obese subjects with metabolic syndrome found the treatment was only beneficial when accompanied by non-fermentable fiber supplements. The trial saw improvements in insulin sensitivity 6 weeks after a fecal transplant.

UK and University of Otago researchers have presented a "world-first weight loss device," which attaches to the teeth and prevents patients from opening their mouths wider than 2 mm using "magnetic devices and custom-manufactured locking bolts."

Researchers have uncovered interesting new details around the function of fat cells, finding that increasing levels of a certain protein could offer protection against diabetes in at-risk individuals, by altering the behavior of white fat cells.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new weight management drug called Wegovy (semaglutide). First approved as a type 2 diabetes treatment in 2017, the drug has been described as a “game-changer” for obese or overweight adults.

Researchers have identified an entirely new neural circuit that can be targeted to trigger satiation in mice, and even found that an already-approved ADHD drug confers its weight loss effects through this same pathway.

Researchers have discovered a new method to treat obesity by blocking a receptor in fat cells and speeding up energy expenditure. An experimental drug has been developed targeting this receptor and it has been effective at preventing obesity in mice.

Aging comes for us all – but perhaps the unpleasant symptoms don’t have to. In a new study, scientists have found a kind of anti-aging immunotherapy, reinvigorating immune cells to better clear out defunct cells that contribute to the aging process.

Researchers are continuing to unravel the relationship between inflammation and obesity, and through new study involving overweight mice and a repurposed heart disease drug, scientists have uncovered new evidence of how the two are closely connected.

Much research into obesity of late has focused on ways they body might be made to produce more brown fat rather than white as a way of fighting weight gain, and scientists have now made a key advance in this area.

Scientists have used 49 pairs of identical twins to delve into the metabolic changes that can take place in fat tissue as a result of obesity, teasing out some distinct biological processes that were linked to adverse health effects.