Mid Day Daily

Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Log in
  • Home
  • National & International
  • Business & Financials
  • Technology
  • Health
  • Science
  • About Us
    • Our Staff
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy GDPR
    • Terms of Use
  • Latest News
    • Sloths Were Declared the Slowest Animals on Earth
    • Facebook’s Messenger Will Give You the 411 on Non-Friends
    • Fun Facts About the Coconut Crab
    • The Coyote Hunting in Wisconsin might be Banned
    • Autism Was Genetically Introduced In Monkeys
    • Tully Monster Has Many More Mysteries Left To Offer
    • Mom Claims Daughter Was Forced To Get Naked To Pass Exam In School
    • What Happens When Two Planets Collide?
    • FDA Approves the BrainPort Vision Device That Gives Hope To The Blind
    • Two Cretaceous Plankton-Eating Fish Species Were Discovered
    • Columbia University Researchers Store Computer Information on DNA Strand

Pages

  • About Midday Daily
  • Contact Us
  • Our Staff
  • Privacy Policy GDPR
  • Terms of Use

Recent Posts

  • Indiana Jones 5 Won’t Open in 2020 After All June 29, 2018
  • ‘Oumuamua is Actually a Comet, Not an Asteroid (Study) June 28, 2018
  • Best Evidence of Alien Life on Saturn’s Moon Enceladus, Found (Study) June 28, 2018
  • Jeremy Irons to Star in HBO’s Watchmen Reboot June 27, 2018
  • The Fermi Paradox: We Might Be Alone in the Universe (Study) June 26, 2018
  • The Strawberry Moon and Who It Will Affect June 26, 2018
  • Tom Holland Reveals Spider-Man: Homecoming Sequel Title June 25, 2018
You are here: Home / Health / Team Finds Brain ‘Switch’ that Says When You’re Full

Team Finds Brain ‘Switch’ that Says When You’re Full

March 19, 2016 By Dean Lamori 1 Comment

Email, RSS Follow
'Deliciously-looking Sandwich'

Scientists have detected a brain switch that can control appetite and prevent food cravings and overeating.

A team of Johns Hopkins researchers have recently identified a brain ‘switch’ that may be responsible for controlling appetite in mice. If the switch is ‘broken,’ the rodents find it hard to stop eating and become obese in less than a month.

The team believes that blood sugar may influence when the switch is turned on after having a meal. When the switch is on people feel full, but when the switch is off or fails to work properly people tend to overeat.

Researchers discovered the new mechanism while they were analyzing the strength of neural connections in the brains of laboratory mice. They have long suspected that an enzyme dubbed OGT may have something to do with appetite control. So, they decided to genetically tweak several mice to block enzyme production in the rodents’ brain and see what happens.

Past studies had revealed that OGT also plays an important role in various metabolic processes such as insulin and blood glucose use. But when researchers removed the enzyme from mice’s brains, the animals put on weight rapidly. Some of them became obese in only about three weeks.

Olof Lagerlof, lead author of the study, noted that the animals cannot grasp when they had enough food so they keep gorging on. The team also found that appetite could no longer be controlled when the OGT enzyme lacked in a certain area of the brain in the hypothalamus.

Researchers reported that they noticed the mice were getting really fat two weeks after the experiment. Yet, the team wanted to confirm whether the OGT enzyme was responsible for appetite control. So, they artificially raised the levels of the enzyme in some mice’s brains. These mice stopped from eating even when they were still hungry.

Scientists also said that the mice that had the OGT removed from their systems lingered over their meals and ate twice as many calories as normal mice. Though the mice were not given extra portions, they kept putting on weight at an extremely fast rate.

The team explained that the enzyme acts like a switch that gets turned on or off by the levels of blood sugar which naturally increase after a meal.

Researchers suspect that a similar switch may be found in humans too. Yet, they need more research to confirm the hypothesis. If the theory is correct, however, scientists could develop drugs that can control appetite and prevent people from overeating.

Image Source: Pixabay

Email, RSS Follow

Filed Under: Health Tagged With: appetite control, appetite switch, food cravings, obesity, OGT enzyme, overeating, weight loss

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 10 other subscribers

Recent Articles

USPS van

Chinese Drug Dealers Shipping Drugs to U.S. via Postal Service

January 28, 2018 By Dean Lamori

Marlboro cigarette packs

Philip Morris Wants to Help You Quit Smoking

January 6, 2018 By Dean Lamori

Drugs and money

Drug Company Sued for Bribing Doctors to Prescribe Potent Opioid

December 24, 2017 By Dean Lamori

Smartphone user sitting on sidewalk

Calif. Health Dept: Excess Smartphone Use Can Cause Brain Cancer

December 17, 2017 By Dean Lamori

jared kushner

Kushner Plans to Revamp 666 Fifth Avenue Skyscraper, Partner Isn’t Supportive

November 2, 2017 By Tom Hager

elon musk

Elon Musk Shares Progress He Made with Boring Company on Twitter

October 30, 2017 By John Cooper

starbucks mugs

Starbucks Takes Halloween Seriously with New Zombie Frappuccino

October 28, 2017 By Kurt Cottrell

ecigarette

New York to Treat eCigarettes Same Way as Regular Cigarettes in Public Indoor Areas

October 26, 2017 By Tom Hager

amazon box

Amazon Warehouse Delivered Couple’s Requested Storage Containers with 65 Pounds of Weed

October 25, 2017 By Kurt Cottrell

ibm offices

IBM’s Q3 Report Encourages Greater Sales Expectations for the First Time in Years

October 19, 2017 By Kurt Cottrell

dubai police supercars

Dubai Police to Patrol the City from Above Thanks to Multirotor Hoverbikes

October 16, 2017 By John Cooper

marketing stunt for rick and morty

Woman Received Volkswagen Car for One Legendary Szechuan Sauce Pack from McDonald’s

October 14, 2017 By Amanda Lane

honeywell center

Honeywell to Turn Two Units into Publicly Traded Companies by 2019

October 12, 2017 By Tom Hager

self-driving car

New AI Project Will Help Autonomous Cars See What’s Around Corners

October 11, 2017 By Sam Doliente

Related Articles

  • Cockroach lying on a concrete surface

    Should Cockroach Milk Turn Into a Superfood Trend? (Study)

    May 29, 2018
  • eggs and their yolks

    One Egg Per Day Keeps Strokes Away (Study)

    May 22, 2018
  • children playing in the dirt

    Childhood Leukemia Likely Caused by Lack of Infection (Study)

    May 22, 2018
  • vegetarian meal

    Vegetarian Diet Might Prevent Early Death

    Apr 27, 2018
  • New human organ discovered

    There’s a Newly-Discovered Human Organ Called Interstitium (Study)

    Mar 27, 2018
  • taste bud illustration

    Graining Weight Might Make Your Taste Buds Dull (Study)

    Mar 26, 2018
  • platypus swimming in water

    Platypus Milk Might One Day Save Lives (Study)

    Mar 16, 2018
  • Lead exposure warning.

    Lead Exposure May Be Linked To Heart Disease, Premature Deaths (Study)

    Mar 13, 2018
  • Victim of childhood abuse in a box.

    Close Relationships In Adulthood May Counter Effects Of Childhood Abuse

    Mar 6, 2018
  • Cigarette carton with text that warns people of pregnancy complications, heart disease, lung cancer, and emphysema.

    1 In 14 US Women Smoked During Pregnancy In 2016, CDC Says

    Mar 1, 2018

Categories

  • Business & Financials
  • Entertainment
  • Health
  • National & International
  • Nature
  • Science
  • Technology
  • U.S.
  • World

Copyright © 2021 MidDayDaily.com

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Contact