Key Weight-loss Mystery Solved
New research suggests fat cells have a ‘memory' It’s a universal truth of weight loss that even if you manage to shed some body fat, you’ll probably find it’s harder to keep it all from coming back. Why does this happen? A new study may have the answer: fat tissue retains a ‘memory’ of sorts after the cells become obese. “This is a piece of the puzzle in potentially explaining how changes in adipose tissue (body fat) occur during weight change,” Dr Ferdinand von Meyenn, assistant professor at ETH Zürich’s Department of Health Sciences and Technology, told BBC Science Focus. Von Meyenn and his team found transcriptional changes (alterations to the way our cells copy and control genetic material) in the cells of people they studied. They compared the sequences of cells within the fat tissue of people who were and weren’t living with obesity, before and after a 25% reduction in their body mass index. “The genes [we looked at] were so deregulated during obesity, that they ...
