All posts tagged: Metabolism

Major depressive disorder might alter the body’s amino acid metabolism

Major depressive disorder might alter the body’s amino acid metabolism

Published by José Betancourt

Depression appears to drive changes in how the body processes a specific amino acid called valine, rather than the other way around. This discovery, published in Psychopharmacology, helps explain why metabolic problems often accompany poor mental health. The World Health Organization currently ranks depression as the third leading cause of the global disease burden. Experts project it will reach the number one spot by the end of the decade. Major depressive disorder is one of the most common mental health conditions worldwide, affecting how people feel, think, and handle daily activities. Depression is primarily known for its psychological toll, but it also produces physical symptoms like fatigue, appetite loss, and sleep disturbances. Many individuals with the disorder eventually develop metabolic abnormalities. Patients often experience unexplainable shifts in how their body processes energy, which has puzzled the medical community for years. Some patients develop a cluster of metabolic conditions that includes high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and abnormal cholesterol levels. Patients dealing with both psychological symptoms and metabolic syndrome face a heavier overall disease burden. …

Scientists are rethinking how the body burns calories

Scientists are rethinking how the body burns calories

Published by Jenni Sidey

Brown fat has long carried a kind of scientific promise. Unlike the more familiar white fat that stores energy, this darker tissue burns it, turning fuel into heat when the body needs to stay warm. That ability has made it a target for researchers searching for new ways to address obesity. Yet a basic question has lingered. What allows brown fat to actually do its job? A study involving researchers at NYU College of Dentistry points to an answer that sits outside the fat cells themselves. The work centers on a protein called SLIT3, which appears to build the internal support system that lets brown fat function as a calorie-burning tissue. Without that support, the cells are present, but the process falters. “By rapidly taking up and using fuel sources from our bodies and the food that we eat, brown fat acts like a metabolic sink that draws in nutrients and prevents them from being stored,” said Farnaz Shamsi, assistant professor of molecular pathobiology and the study’s senior author. The finding shifts attention from what …

NAD Supplements Promise to Improve Energy, Metabolism, and Longevity. Here’s How Experts Recommend You Use Them

NAD Supplements Promise to Improve Energy, Metabolism, and Longevity. Here’s How Experts Recommend You Use Them

Published by Jenni Sidey

The anti-aging boom is upon us. Peptides are popping, and people are ditching sweat-soaked HIIT sessions for workouts that support longevity. Meanwhile, familiar supplements like vitamin D and magnesium are making way for products that promise extended healthspan, like NAD—a multitasking molecule that experts claim can support DNA health while boosting everything from energy to skin health. But what exactly is NAD, and is it worth your attention? At a time when looksmaxxing influencers are blasting retatrutide into their veins before clinical trials have even concluded, it’s become more important than ever to question not just the efficacy but also the safety of the supplements and drugs that pop up in our social media feeds. Here’s everything the experts—and the results of published, peer-reviewed clinical trials—have to say about NAD. What is NAD? “NAD” is an acronym for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, a molecule that has multiple important functions. Emma Wedgwood, an advanced nurse practitioner, says that, at the top level, it “helps keep our cells functioning properly.” “It plays an essential role in energy production …

Anti-obesity drug improves metabolism beyond weight loss, study finds

Anti-obesity drug improves metabolism beyond weight loss, study finds

Published by Jenni Sidey

The skin over a mouse’s shoulders warmed up after a dozen days on tirzepatide. That heat map, taken with an infrared camera, pointed to a familiar patch of tissue between the shoulder blades: brown fat, the body’s calorie-burning depot. In a new mouse study, tirzepatide did what many people already associate it with. It drove weight down mainly by cutting appetite. But the work also suggests something else is happening at the tissue level. Even when the researchers matched food intake between groups, tirzepatide pushed brown fat toward a more active, energy-burning state. There were improvements in blood sugar control that food restriction alone did not fully explain. The research team. From left to right, Albert Mestres, Tania Quesada, Albert Blasco, Marta Giralt, Francesc Villarroya, Anna Planavila and Marion Peyrou. (CREDIT: University of Barcelona) A drug built to hit two targets Tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro, is approved for weight control in adults with obesity or overweight with comorbidities, and for treatment of poorly controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus. Unlike earlier obesity drugs that focus on …

Metabolism, not cells or genetics, may have begun life on Earth

Metabolism, not cells or genetics, may have begun life on Earth

Published by Jenni Sidey

Planet Earth is overrun with life. Lakes, rivers, seas, and oceans are teeming with it, from the surfaces all the way down to the bottom, often at depths of miles and miles. The land, both above and below ground, is packed with living organisms of varying size, mass, and complexity, including plants, animals, and fungi. Even the atmosphere houses a wide variety of life forms, from birds and insects to microbes found far above the highest mountain peaks. All told, more than 8 million species of organisms are currently represented on Earth, totaling over half a trillion tonnes of carbon in overall biomass. We can trace our evolutionary history through time, with notable milestones including: We have fossil evidence of life existing 3.8 billion years ago, but the start of it all — the origin of life itself on Earth — remains an unsolved puzzle. Although many theories and scenarios abound, one of the least-talked-about may actually be the most likely: a metabolism-first scenario for life’s beginnings. Here’s why recent research, only conducted in the …

Study finds indoor daylight could support healthier metabolism

Study finds indoor daylight could support healthier metabolism

Published by Jenni Sidey

Morning light slips through a window and lands on your hands. It feels ordinary. But for your body, that daylight carries timing cues that reach deep into metabolism. A new controlled study suggests those cues can matter even more if you live with type 2 diabetes. The idea grows out of a modern pattern that many people share. You spend most of your day indoors. You may commute in low light, sit under office lamps, and return home after sunset. Scientists say this indoor life often goes with circadian misalignment, a mismatch between your internal clock and the day-night world outside. Study design and light condition characteristics. (CREDIT: Cell Metabolism) That mismatch is tied to metabolic disease, the researchers note, and they wanted to isolate one piece of the puzzle: daylight itself. Why Your Internal Clock Cares About Light Your body runs on rhythms. A central clock in the brain helps set the schedule. It also lines up “peripheral” clocks in organs like the liver and skeletal muscles. Those clocks help coordinate when you burn …

Wealthier men show higher metabolism in brain regions controlling reward and stress

Wealthier men show higher metabolism in brain regions controlling reward and stress

Published by José Betancourt

An analysis of positron emission tomography data in Korea found that higher family income was associated with increased neural activity (estimated through increased glucose metabolism) in the caudate, putamen, anterior cingulate, hippocampus, and amygdala regions of the brain of middle-aged men. These areas of the brain are involved in reward processing and stress regulation. The paper was published in the European Journal of Neuroscience. Socioeconomic status refers to a person’s position in society based on income, education, and social standing. It is a powerful predictor of many life outcomes. Individuals with higher socioeconomic status tend to have better physical and mental health and to live longer. Lower socioeconomic status is associated with higher rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, anxiety, and psychotic disorders. Cognitive abilities, intelligence, and academic achievement also tend to be higher in individuals with higher socioeconomic status. These effects are thought to arise partly through neurobiological pathways shaped by long-term social and environmental exposure. Research in animals shows that social hierarchy can alter neurotransmitter systems, influencing motivation, stress sensitivity, and vulnerability to …

AI-built ‘digital twin’ helps doctors precisely target glioma cancer

AI-built ‘digital twin’ helps doctors precisely target glioma cancer

Published by Jenni Sidey

A team at the University of Michigan has built a new way to “read” a brain tumor’s appetite while it is still inside a patient. The approach uses machine learning to create a computer “digital twin” of a person’s glioma, then estimates how fast the tumor consumes and reshapes nutrients. The work aims to help doctors pick treatments that match the biology of an individual tumor, instead of guessing and hoping the cancer is vulnerable. Gliomas can look similar on scans yet behave very differently. Some depend on certain amino acids, the small building blocks your body uses to make proteins. If those amino acids become scarce, those tumors may slow down. Other gliomas can make the same amino acids on their own and keep growing anyway. Until now, doctors have not had an easy way to tell which patient might actually benefit from a targeted diet plan. The same problem shows up with some drugs. One example in the study is mycophenolate mofetil, which interferes with how cells make a key building block for …

Sleep, stress and sunshine: endocrinologists on 11 ways to look after your metabolism | Health

Sleep, stress and sunshine: endocrinologists on 11 ways to look after your metabolism | Health

Published by Sam Flores

Get to know your hormones “Most people would like to have more energy and be leaner,” says Prof David Ray, an endocrinologist at the University of Oxford who also provides NHS services. “There is a connection between how we choose to live, what our bodies look and feel like, and the hormones that are going around the body. What endocrinologists deal with is disorders of either a lack of hormones, or too much of a hormone.” Hormones impact almost all bodily functions, from skin, to the gut, to our moods. “During an average day, the hormones in our body will vary depending on what time it is and what we’re doing,” he says. “For example, have we recently had something to eat or are we hungry? Are we having a stressful day or a calm and quiet day?” “Metabolic rate refers to metabolism, which describes how the body uses different components from the foods that we eat and turns those into all the various things that it needs to fuel the body, build proteins and …

I Went on a Quest to Fix My Metabolism. Here’s What I Learned

I Went on a Quest to Fix My Metabolism. Here’s What I Learned

Published by Jenni Sidey

My metabolism, it seems, has fallen off a cliff. I first noticed that things weren’t quite as they should be this past spring. After last year’s period of festive indulgence, I hit the gym again, dialed up my running, and locked in my diet in the same way I have been doing for the past five years. Only, at age 35, all my usual hacks didn’t seem to be having the same effect. I’ve never been super in shape, but usually a few weeks of work would leave me fairly happy with how I looked. Now, no matter how much I run or diet, I can’t seem to lose weight. “We’re cooked,” says my friend Joel when I bring this up. Joel has an active job, and he’s been running 40 miles a week to and from work—and he has kids to keep him busy. But we’re both in the same boat. “I’m not losing any weight, even with all this running,” he tells me. Instead of giving in to the cruel ravages of time, …