Lose 8 pounds, get rid of fat and regulate sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol

2024-06-03 09:00:00, Shëndeti CNA

Obesity has been described as an ongoing pandemic by experts, with rapidly increasing incidences in recent decades. But being overweight can lead to various serious health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer.

Although losing weight as well as maintaining the new weight is a difficult goal, scientists have found a guaranteed way that leads to weight loss. More specifically, by restricting calories and following a pattern of intermittent fasting, it changes the way the brain and gut microbiome are connected, which has a positive effect on the weight loss effort.

The team of researchers from the PLA General Hospital Health Management Institute in Beijing studied 25 overweight people from China, with an average age of 27 years. Participants first went through a strict 32-day fasting phase with meals prepared by a nutritionist. These meals were increasingly low in calories. They then went through a 30-day phase with a little more freedom in their meals, but still consuming very few calories.

After completing the study, published in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, and according to the results, participants lost an average of 7.6 kilograms (about 7.8% of their body weight), while also reducing body fat, waist circumference, blood pressure blood and blood sugar, cholesterol and liver enzyme levels.

Correspondingly, changes in brain regions were also important, as there was less activity in the parts of the brain that control hunger and addiction, but also more "good" bacteria in the gut. Combined, the amount of certain bacteria in the gut was linked to the activity of certain parts of the brain, such as those important for decision-making, attention and emotion.

Therefore, when we lose weight, not only changes occur in the body and intestines, but also in the brain. However, it is not clear whether these changes influence each other or if something else causes both.

Dr. Xiaoning Wang explained that the gut microbiome is connected to the brain in a complex way. Dr. Liming Wang added that their next step as researchers is to understand exactly how the gut microbiome and the brain communicate during weight loss./ CNA