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Researchers from the University of Warwick have discovered a function of tanycytes, hunger cells in the part of the brain that regulates energy levels. These tanycytes recognize the nutrients in food and directly provide the brain with information about what has been eaten. This identifies a very important player in determining hunger.
Hunger Cells: Amino Acid -> Taste Buds -> Tanycytes
There are 5 basic tastes: salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and savory. The latter is also called ‘umami’, after the Japanese term for something savory. This savory basic taste is primarily detected by the presence of amino acids, including glutamate [1].
Research from the University of Warwick shows that tanycytes, a specific type of cell in the brain, respond to amino acids in healthy food through the same receptors in the tongue that process the umami taste [2].
However, these tanycytes mainly respond to arginine and lysine, which are believed to induce a fuller feeling. These amino acids are particularly found in high concentrations in foods such as pork shoulder, chicken, mackerel, plums, peaches, avocados, almonds, sirloin steak, and lentils. Eating this type of food may therefore lead to a quicker feeling of fullness. Something we coincidentally mentioned for almonds earlier this week.
The researchers made this discovery by administering concentrated amounts of arginine and lysine into brain cells that had been made fluorescent to visualize microscopic reactions. They observed that within 30 seconds, the tanycytes registered the amino acids and responded by sending a signal to the part of the brain that regulates appetite and body weight.
They found that the signals from the amino acids are directly picked up by the umami taste receptors. They discovered this by blocking or removing these receptors, after which they observed that the amino acids no longer reacted with the tanycytes.
Amino acid levels in blood and brain following a meal are a very important signal that imparts the sensation of feeling full. Finding that tanycytes, located at the center of the brain region that controls body weight, directly sense amino acids has very significant implications for coming up with new ways to help people control their body weight within healthy bounds.
Nicholas Dale, University of Warwick
This discovery could create new possibilities in the field of more effective diets. It might even lead to treatments to suppress appetite by directly activating these tanycytes, bypassing the food itself and the digestive system.
Future Fitness and Hunger Cells
The findings of the research will soon be published in
Molecular Metabolism.
I regularly write articles about this type of research that may raise questions about its direct added value. At the moment, there is still no direct added value, but it could lead to revolutionary developments in the future.
The current obesity epidemic is the result of the human body not being able to adapt quickly enough to the changing environment. A body that is still geared towards gathering and conserving as much energy as possible in a time when energy is abundant for many. Many of us constantly have to tell ourselves rationally to avoid certain (amounts of) food while our bodies crave it.
And yet, dieting and exercising. Our bodies are fantastic machines that even the smartest minds cannot come close to matching, for example, looking at developments in robotics. It has ensured that we have been able to survive on this earth for almost half a million years, often in harsh conditions. However, now, in a world filled with cheap and energy-rich food, certain survival systems work against us.
We are gaining more insight into the various aspects that determine how much we eat and how our bodies deal with this food. This type of research allows us to catch up with this ‘evolutionary lag’. Human chip tuning.
References
- Yasuo T, Kusuhara Y, Yasumatsu K, Ninomiya Y (2008-10-01). Multiple receptor systems for glutamate detection in the taste organ. Biol Pharm Bull 31 (10): 1833-7
- Greta Lazutkaite, Alice Soldà, Kristina Lossow, Wolfgang Meyerhof, Nicholas Dale. Amino acid sensing in hypothalamic tanycytes via umami taste receptors. Molecular Metabolism, 2017; DOI: 10.1016/j.molmet.2017.08.015
